Doodles
by Aware-Mermaid
Summary: "I doodle... Jim thinks they're good." AU From this moment. Follows other canon events. Some reference to sexual situations but nothing explicit.
1. Doodles

"I do doodles sometimes. Jim thinks they're good."

"Is Jim your boyfriend?" The cameraman prompts.

"Oh no." She looked down. "He'd be a great boyfriend but no…" She smiled internally about all the jokes and the good times they've had together, pulling pranks on Dwight.

"Who are you dating?" Another prompt, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Roy. We're engaged." She held up a ring. "For um... three years now… I've dated him since high school."

"All my high school guys were total jerks. That's awesome you found someone at yours." A female producer injects. "What does Roy think about your art?"

"It's not art... I don't think...Um…" She looks down. "I think I have to get back to my desk..." She got up and turned around, stuck in her thoughts. Jim looked up at her concerned. _I'm fine_, she mouthed to him. He flashed a tight smile. She smiled sincerely back at him and his tension lessened in his shoulders. _Any girl would be damn lucky to get him... I wish I was single._ Wait, what? She sat there in horror of what she thought. She looked at the ring she had on her finger. And unbeknowest to her, Jim watched her take it off and place it in her bag.

Jim watched as she put her engagement ring in her purse and turned back to the computer, stuck in her thoughts. What had happened in that room that made her so upset? His computer binged.

PBeesly12: I got rid of your evidence you left in plain sight.

JHalpert34: Beesly, you're the best.

PBeesly12: You're losing your touch.

JHalpert34: What would I do without you?

PBeesly12: Let's hope to never find out.

JHalpert34: I whole heartedly agree.

Jim smiled down at his keyboard. Michael starts showing the new temp around the office.

"This is Dwight..." He comments.

"Pleasure to meet you." He pulls out his drawer and lets out an annoyed yell.  
"What is it?" Michael leaned in

"He put my stuff in Jello again!" He yells furious. Pam bellows out a huge laugh and hid the laugh behind her hands and Jim makes eye contact with her and winks. She giggled behind her hands. _There's my Beesly._ Whoa, Halpert. Engaged. Hands off. _If she was so engaged, she wouldn't flirt with you so much._ We're friends. Really good friends.

"Pam, could you come in here?" Michael asked from his doorway. Pam stood up and grabbed a pen and a small pad of paper. Jim tried not to watch her go in there but he couldn't help himself. She is just so beautiful, effortlessly. The blinds were closed as to not give him a good view of what was happening. Damn it. Fifteen minutes later, Pam comes out, her eyes blood shot and face red as she walks quickly to the bathroom as she grabs her purse quickly from under the desk.

Jim forms a text to her.

To Pam: You okay?

To Jim: Yeah, sorry. I had a headache.

To Pam: Do you need anything?

To Jim: No but thank you Jim. You're the best.

_You're the best._ Ugh, she always finds those perfect words where he isn't sure if she's flirting or just being friends. One day he will find out and either it will be the best day of his life or the worst. It's a 50/50 shot.

Pam comes out of the bathroom fairly quickly. She situated herself at her desk. He got up shortly after making a sales call to go grab a caffeinated drink from the vending machine. If he knew anything about growing up with Larissa and his mom, it was that caffeine always made headaches or cramps better. She liked Cola, he'd go with that. It dispensed itself quickly. He walked over to reception and placed the can next to her keyboard without saying a word and grabbed a jellybean and popped it in his mouth. Green apple, he thought. Not my favorite but that's fine.

"Oh, Jim. Thank you." She looked visibly touched at the kind gesture. Like it never happened to her. And that made him rage on the inside. He was getting frazzled. He hated being frazzled. He was the chill guy. The never gets angry guy. The sports channel guy but not a rager one that throws peanuts at the tv or punches a hole in the wall.

But every time he saw that fiancé that Pam has, he wanted to go ten rounds in the ring. And he wasn't like that. Every time she looked shocked, when he got something for her, it sent him on a dark path, one he didn't like being on. Did he not even bring her one can of soda? Did he rub her feet after she gets home from work? Does he buy her white wine because she doesn't like red? Does he run a bath for her? Does he make love to her right? Whoa, stop this train right now. He doesn't want to think of them in bed together, kissing, holding each other. It makes him want to rage.

"Hey...How's your headache?" She smiled tiredly.

"Better." He leaned in.

"Want to tell me what really happened?" She bit her lip and nodded.

"IM?" He nodded and headed back to his seat. He's always super careful to lock his computer any time he leaves his desk, even if it is just to go to reception. Dwight would be much too tempted to get back at him...Not that he doesn't deserve it, he just doesn't want to help him.

PBeesly12: So Jan wants Michael to fire someone.

JHalpert34: And he chose the temp?

PBeesly12: He tried to fire me for stealing paper clips even though I have never done that.

JHalpert34: What?!

PBeesly12: As a practical joke in from of new temp, Ryan.

JHalpert34: Hence the tears.

PBeesly12: Yeah.

JHalpert34: I'll get him back for you.

PBeesly12: No, don't. I don't want to get you in trouble.

JHalpert34: He's the one in trouble. No one makes you cry and get away with it.

Pam stared at her computer screen. Oh my god. When was the last time Roy said anything like that to her? Uh, neverville. She had a lot of serious thoughts running through her head.

JHalpert34: Pam? You okay?

PBeesly12: Yeah. I'll be okay. I'm just so glad I met you and that you're on my side.

Jim looked up and smiled. She beamed back at him, all evidence of tears gone. Jim took his cell phone and knocked on Michael's door and planned his retribution.

"Hey Michael, I have a quick sales call, I'll be out for like twenty minutes." Michael looks up.

"Okay, Jimbo. Could you get me a Frosty on your way back. Chocolate."

"Um, not going that way at all."

"Well I am letting you leave so..."

"It's my job to make sales calls though. I'm a _salesman_."

"The best in the biz..."

"False." Dwight called out.

"Fine, whatever. If I get you this, can I go?" Jim relented.

"Yes, you may. Why don't you take Pam? I think she might be on her rag..." Jim glared at Michael.

"I would love to take Pam with me to the sales call."

"Great, bye!" Pam looked up as Jim approached her desk.

"Hey..."

"Hey...So get your stuff, you get to come up with me on a sales call. Michael okayed it."

"I'm not a sales..." Jim smiled and she trailed off.

"I know, let's go." She smiled and got her purse and jacket and walked with him.

"Um, could we go not through the warehouse. I don't want to be the butt of the warehouse guys' jokes today..."

"Course." He squeezed her arm.

He headed to the local Rite Aid, to get a burner phone. It was a cheap $9.99 phone with 60 minutes which was plenty for his prank. Pam had a questioning look in her eyes but didn't say anything. At last minute, he grabbed a Dove chocolate bar for her.

"It's my favorite." She said as he handed it to her.

"I know, Beesly." He winked at her. She blushes slightly, pushing some hair behind her ear. He wondered if it was a soft as it looked. But that's boyfriend or fiancé privileges, damn it. Roy better be feeling her hair all the time. Lucky bastard.

Pam opened the candy bar and took a bite and wondered when the last time Roy bought her anything she hadn't asked him forty times for. She was pulled out of her thoughts as they approached a Wendy's. She looked at him questionably.

"Know what you want?" He asked her. She nodded. They placed their order and Jim wouldn't hear about her paying for it. She smiled shyly and put her money away. Jim dug into his sandwhich and she bit her fries before eating her grilled chicken sandwich.

"So, I usually know what sales calls you're going on...What is this one?" Pam asked as she took a sip of her soda.

"Oh, there's no sales call. I lied. But Michael said I could take you so I wasn't going to not take advantage of that."

"What are you doing instead?"

"Getting back at Michael." She smiled.

"What are you doing?" She asked secretly. She always liked being involved in the pranks.

"Well, remember the phone at Rite Aid?" She nodded. He began telling his plan to ring directly to Michael and use a fake voice and yell at him about all the stuff he had thought about Michael turned up to 1000 to make up for the fact that he made Pam cry. Pam was stifling her laughter through the whole conversation and felt extremely better about the whole situation. Jim smiled as he ended the call admist apologies for losing a customer.

"Feel better?" Jim asked.

"Loads." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thanks, Jim. You're the best." He wanted so badly to kiss her head but he couldn't do that while she was engaged. Ring on her finger or no ring on her finger.

His phone vibrated.

From Mark: Hey man. I've got good news and bad news. Can we meet at the apt tonight after work? Nothing bad.

To Mark: Yeah, bro no worries. He felt Pam lean off and sighed.

"Thanks, Jim. I really needed out of that office." She sighed, looking out the window. "It is too much sometimes."

"I heard you. At least you don't have to sit next to Dwight."

"True." She giggled as she munched on a french fry.


	2. Roy

Pam looks up at Roy comes in.

"Pammy, you ready?" She looked down and logged out of the computer. She was glad it was a Friday so she could have lots of time to finish her internal thoughts. At the last second, she grabbed her latest doodle that Jim commented on and put it in her bag. She grabbed her jacket and looked at Jim and mouthed _bye._ He smiled sadly and nodded.

When Roy and Pam got home, Roy went to the fridge and grabbed a beer and put on the sports channel and plopped on the couch.

"When is dinner going to be ready?" He asked not taking his eyes off the tv. She sighed.

"Six thirty."

"Kay. Maybe no greens." He drank a full pull of his beer.

"I am trying to keep my shape for the wedding."

"Doesn't mean I have to." He snarked. She scoffed. He didn't even comment on the wedding. She pulled out the picture. She grabbed a bridal magazine from the kitchen counter and went to defrost some meat for dinner. She flipped through the magazine. She looked up and saw his unwavering attention to the game. Would he be like that to her on the wedding day. A TV behind her head while she's saying her vows and her begging him to pay attention to her as always. She looked at the walls and saw all sport's posters. No pictures of them or of her family, but all his. She opened the fridge and saw all his stuff except a produce drawer to keep her food in, including the mixed berry yogurt she liked to bring to work. She went into the bedroom to get out of her heels and stopped at the sports comforter covering the bed. She hated basketball. She didn't really. She and her father have always been into sports. It was that which first drew Roy to her because she had interest in it unlike the other girls in the school. But they both got comfortable. She with a passionless relationship so she didn't have to feel so alone. He with a person that does everything for him.

Why shouldn't she be scared of being alone? Everyone fears it. It's not illogical for her to fear being alone. But she shouldn't let it control her life anymore. She grabbed a sensible pair of Ked's and looked around. If she didn't know she lived here, it would seem like a bachelor pad. Beer stocked, game on, game memorabilia everywhere. None of her art displayed, all her art supplies located in a bin under the bed. She sighed. He didn't even notice she didn't have her ring on. He probably wouldn't notice if she didn't have it on for weeks unless she brought her attention to it. They did have a guest room that was for his brother Kenny or one of the guys to sleep over their hangover. Maybe she should sleep in there tonight.

She wasn't scared of Roy. He had a temper but he wasn't a bad guy. That's why she had so much trouble with these thoughts. She had loved Roy, but somewhere along the way...fell out of love with him. They had always done what he wanted to do and she always agreed with him. But in reality? Millions of women walk away from relationships that didn't make them feel anything. What made her so weak? What did they have that she didn't have? It was confidence. She didn't have the self-confidence that she used to. She had the quiet kind of confidence that came roaring into her head every time she stared down Michael. Why couldn't she do the same to her fiancé? Why couldn't she stare him down every time he decided he didn't want to do something that she wanted to do? Maybe she should pretend that Roy is Michael. Pretend Roy is Michael. She chanted a few times as she closed her eyes and opened them and just felt nothing.

She's lived here for five years and she doesn't really have anything to show for it. Except a ring. That coincidentally happened right around the time where she spoke about a certain new salesman joining the staff. She didn't think of it at the time but looking back, maybe they were related. Was it an anchor being tied to her ankle so she wouldn't leave him for the new attractive salesman or did he actually want to marry her? Want to have children? Did _she _want to marry Roy and have his kids? She frowned deeply as she pondered this. Could she see herself marrying him or someone else? It couldn't be cold feet because he wouldn't even agree to setting a date. She sat on the edge of the bed and put her Ked's on her feet and got up, feeling more confident and stubborn than she ever had before.

She was done trying to smother her inner voice to spare his feelings. She was done trying to make this thing work with Roy when she was the only one clearly trying. She was the one that did the laundry and cooked and cleaned without as much as a thank you. It wasn't all Roy's fault. It was a culmination of both of their faults. Roy's for being complacent and Pam's for letting him. She heard the microwave beep as the meat finished defrosting. She didn't feel hungry anymore. She moved to the kitchen again.

Jim entered the apartment and threw his keys on the counter. He sighed, he hated seeing her leave with Roy. Hated her looking so sad. But definitely hated seeing her leave with Roy.

"Hey, man." Mark came up to him. Jim smiled back.

"Hey, Mark. So, what's the good news or do I want the bad news first?" Mark laughed nervously.

"Hey babe, can you come out and show Jim?" Alyssa bounded out and snuggled up next to Mark. Alyssa was a life loving, effervescent brunette who suited Mark really well. They had been dating for about a year and a half and Jim had gotten used to Alyssa being over more times than not. She was a grade school teacher and she loved what she did and loved hanging out with Mark. Mark had slowly been moving away from the getting utterly drunk every weekend to having Alyssa over and watching movies or playing video games. She was utterly chill and Jim honestly liked her. She was a really good match for his roommate. She beamed up at Mark. _Wait a second..._

"Mark...did you..." Before he could finish, Alyssa revealed a ring on her finger.

"He proposed!" She squealed before she could stop herself. "I was totally surprised! He took me to a fabulous restaurant and it was on the cupcake! It was the best proposal I could have ever asked for." She smiled wetly at the ring and Mark pulled her close and kissed her head.

"Babe, don't cry, it's a happy memory!" Mark smiled as she looked up and they had a little moment, looking into each other's eyes.

"Well, congrats guys! I guess that's why you kept nagging at me to not use so much water and electricity over the last few months, eh, Mark?" Jim teased. Mark smiled ruefully.

"Sorry man. I didn't want anyone to know. Except for Lys' dad. I asked him first."

"You did?" Alyssa looked shocked.

"I wanted to do it right. I love you and I can't wait to marry you, babe." He leaned down and kissed her. Jim looked down and felt super alone. Mark pulled back. "Anyways...Jim. Alyssa and I have kind of made a decision that involves you, regrettably."

"I'm not having a threesome. I'm sorry, Alyssa, you're not my type." Alyssa looked shocked. Mark looked half amused and half offended.

"Alyssa is the most gorgeous woman I have ever met, why wouldn't you want to..." Jim interrupted.

"I'm sorry, Mark, do you want me to have feelings for your fiancé?" Jim asked cheekily. Mark tugged Alyssa closer, her giggling into him.

"No! She's mine." Jim laughed.

"So, what is it?"

"Um..." Alyssa sounded nervous. "I asked Mark to move in with me. I got a spacey new apartment with a great sound system I got and with us being engaged, I thought it would be good to live with each other so we can work out the kinks..." She spoke really fast and nervously. She bit her lip and looked up. "I'm sorry, Jim, if it makes things difficult for you financially." Jim looked down and thought well shit, I'm going to have to need a new roommate.

"Man, I'm sorry I'm leaving you high and dry. It's just Alyssa means a lot to me and you're one of my best bros. I totally want you in our wedding." He smiled unsurely.

"Oh, jeez guys. I'm not mad! I totally understand." Alyssa looked visibly relieved.

"See babe. He's okay." He turned to Jim. "She was totally freaking out, I told her that you're a really chill guy and that only Roy boils your blood." Jim frowned at the name. Alyssa leapt on that.

"Right. Who is Roy again?" She asked, turning to Mark. Mark smirked.

"Don't..." Jim warned. Mark smirked harder.

"Well, lovely Alyssa..." Alyssa giggled. "Roy happens to be the fiancé of the girl that Jim works with that he's been in love with since he met her two years ago." Alyssa gasped.

"Oh, gossip!" She pulled herself up on a barstool and folded her hands under her face. "What's her name?"

"Not relevant..." Jim muttered.

"Pam. Her name is Pam. I've met Pam when I had to bring some stuff to the office for Jim. She is completely his type. I've told Jim that he should just go and fight for her but Jim's not like that." Jim glared at him. "Alyssa... I can't tell you how many times we've been tipsy and he's moaning about Pam. Mark, you should have seen the obscene way she was licking her spoon of yogurt today. Mark, I hate that she went home with him today. Mark, Pam helped me pull this great prank on Dwight today..." Alyssa giggled quietly to not upset Jim. He looked so upset over this. "Man, if she dumps him and you don't scoop her up, you're an idiot." He said in a serious note.

"I know..." Jim sighed. "She did take her ring off for most of the day. But maybe she thought the temp guy would steal it..." Alyssa reached out and put a hand on Jim's.

"Trust me, I would never take my ring off. Ever." She replied. Mark leaned against the counter.

"Let me ask you this, Jim. If you proposed to Pam and she took off her ring, would you be okay with that?"

"No!"

"Did he notice when he picked her up today?" Jim thought back and he didn't think she put it back on. He shook his head.

"Then maybe don't give up hope yet." Jim nodded and looked down.

Pam walked back out to the kitchen and looked at the page she had open and took the magazine to Roy and waited until a commercial, because heaven forbid she interrupt the game.

"What, Pammy?" She held up a magazine page.

"Do you like these colors?" Orange and white. They were ghastly.

"Sure, whatever you want." He didn't even glance at the page. She definitely didn't want. They were horrible. But it answered her question. He didn't seem to care about the wedding. But did he not care because he just wanted to marry her or just don't care full stop.

"Look at this doodle I did while at work today." He took one glance at it and hmphed. She sighed. "Do you want to marry me, Roy?" She asked bluntly and she put both things on the side table. He looked at her.

"Pammy..."

"Don't call me that! Just...answer the question, please." She pleaded.

"C'mon, Pam." He gestured to the TV. "The game's on."

"Screw the game!" She yelled, exasperated. Roy blinked at her. Pam rarely raised her voice. "I'm talking about our relationship. If you care more about a stupid game, than us, then I guess that answers my question."

"Pam..." He sighed. He knew he wasn't getting out of this one. "I don't know, Pam." She looked up at his honesty. "I proposed because I got scared because I came into the office and saw Halpert, the new guy, and I knew I had to lock you down so he wouldn't steal you away. One of the guys in the warehouse was saying that's how he got his girl to stay." He watched as her eyes watered. "Pam, don't cry. I'm sorry." She let out a sob, hands flying to her face. "Pam, we've been together forever. It's hard to imagine us apart." He put his arms around her, rubbing her back, she leaned into his chest. "But I think we both know that this has gotten too comfortable." She leaned back.

"Yeah, it has." She muttered.

"I'm sorry I kept pushing off this conversation and pushing back on the days for the wedding...I just don't know if I'm wedding material yet. I mean, we havent had sex in I don't know how long..." She stayed silent.

"I think I should move to the guest room and we can divide up our stuff." Pam lifted her hands from her face and looked at him. He sighed. He knew this was coming but he thought he would have more time to prepare.

"Okay, Pam. I understand. But if you continue to make dinner, can I still not have any green stuff? Gotta keep up my bachelor figure." She laughed wetly. She shook her head. "I'll always love you, Pam but I always knew you deserved better than me."

"Don't say that..." She always defended him.

"Hey, Pam. It's okay. I know I never comment on your doodles but it's just because I don't want to lose you to a big city. You are really good and I knew you were better than me and Dunder Mifflin." She sniffed.

"Why didn't you ever say that?" She wiped away a tear.

"We both know I'm not the best guy, Pammy." He wrapped an arm around her and let her cry against him for all the time, tears and disappointments that they weren't the power couple they thought they were eight years ago. She grabbed a couple tissues from the side table and blew her nose. "I'm sorry for making you cry, Pam." She nodded. "I think you need some space, I'll get out of your hair, maybe head over to Kenny's and we can figure all this stuff out tomorrow. I know the truck is in both our names but it doesn't really seem like your type of car." She laughed hoarsely.

"Yeah, it's not."

"We can half the wedding savings account we've been contributing to and you can use that for your new place and a car and clothes and stuff." She nodded.

"That's a good idea."

"We can stop by the bank tomorrow and take care of that and you can open new accounts."

"That would be nice, Roy. Thank you. Don't stay out too late." She stopped, realizing that she wasn't his girlfriend or fiancé anymore, she continued: "The bank closes at noon." He nodded. "I think I'm going to call Penny." He nodded and grabbed his keys and looked at her one last time siting on the couch. Then turned around and walked out of the house a single man.

When the door closed, she grabbed the remote and turned off the stupid Sport's channel and dropped the remote to the ground besides her, looked at the wedding magazine and threw it at the television. Then she buried her hands in her face and sobbed.

Penny was watching her husband run around the house with her two kids and smiled. This is the life she always imagined. The house phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Penny?" Pam was on the other line.

"Pam? Oh my god. Hi!" Penny exclaimed happily. "What's up?" Pam sniffled wetly. "What's wrong?" Pam started crying into the phone.

"Penny...Roy and I broke up tonight. Can you come over? I really need my sister." Penny looked up and caught her husband's eye.

"I'll be there as soon as I can with Ben and Jerry's. Any requests?"

"Chocolate." She sniffed. "Thanks, Penny." She said as she hung up.

"Anytime." She hit end and looked at her husband. "Um, babe. Could you handle the kids tonight?" He walked over concerned.

"Course, Pen. But what happened?" He gestured to the phone as he readjusted one of the children on his hip.

"Roy and Pam broke up. Probably just happened." He looked shocked.

"They were engaged..." She nodded getting her coat and purse. He looked after her concerned. "Be careful, Penny. Call me when you get there." She nodded.

"Mommy loves you!" She said to each of her kids, giving them a hug and a kiss. "I will be back as soon as I can, loves!" She peppered kisses all over their faces, reveling in their giggles. She made eye contact with her husband. And leaned forward to kiss him deeply. Their eldest let out an "Ewwwww..." that made her parents giggle and break the kiss. "I love you." She said looking in his eyes.

"I love you too, baby. But please call me when you get there, okay?" She nodded and he brushed a kiss on her forehead. She looked at him with love as she walked out the door.

Pam opened the door with red eyes and a tissue in her hand.

"Oh Pam." Penny wrapped her sister in a hug.

"Penny, I don't know why I'm crying so much..." She sobbed out. "I mean, I have been feeling not as much in love with Roy and he was so honest with me tonight." She blew her nose. "Maybe I'm angry over how much time I've wasted that I could have been doing something else."

"Look, Pam. I think this is good. You can finally do the stuff that you used to talk about when you were in high school but never got around to doing. I know you never said explicitly that Roy dissuaded you from that."

"It is a good thing. I can be on my own and be independent!" Pam crowed. Penny hid a smile. She knew her sister was going to be okay.

"Let's put on some trash reality tv and eat some ice cream, okay?" Pam nodded and went to grab two spoons. "Pam, I know you've just broken up but you can be independent and be in a relationship. Michael and I have a great relationship and marriage and he can do what goal he has and I can too. I know it's an hour after your break up but you'll find someone who encourages you to follow your dreams and you'll encourage his." Pam looked uncomfortable.

"You know that like I've been part of a documentary filming at work, right?" Penny nodded. "Well, they asked me if Jim was my boyfriend." She looked down. "I felt like crap because I wished he was. He's always encouraging me to do more art and take classes and I think he really could be someone that I would want to date. After I'm over this...Roy thing." Penny smiled.

"I think you and Roy should have been over a long time ago."

"Me too." Pam and Penny clinked their spoons together and settled in, Pam feeling better already with her sister by her side.


	3. Jim Finds Out

Jim walked into to see Pam sitting at her desk with a cup of tea in her hands, stifling a yawn. She smiled when Jim came in.

"Hey Jim." She smiled sleepily.

"Hey, Pam." He stopped at her desk and saw no one else was in. "No one else in yet?"

"Nope. It is Monday after all. I hate mornings." She muttered. She looked up. "Um...So, Jim. We're really close, right?" He nodded. "I have something personal that I want to confide in you but I don't want to tell you in the office like where Dwight or Michael could overhear. Could we go the roof around noon and talk?" He nodded, dreading that this was relationship advice and not wanting to give it. He really didn't want to give her advice. He didn't like Roy. Not because he had a crush on Pam... Well, at last that wasn't the only reason.

"I will help you with whatever you need, Beesly." She smiled.

"You're the best, Jim." She smiled and averted her eyes as Dwight entered the room.

"Oh hey, Dwight!" Jim chirped.

"Jim." He nodded. "Pamela."

"Hi, Dwight." She took another sip of tea.

Jim went to his desk and started making his sales calls, trying to distract himself with work while trying not to think about what she wanted to tell him. Once, Pam went to the bathroom but for the most part, it's been a quiet morning. Around 11:55 am, he started his trek to the roof. A few minutes later, Pam joined him. She was slightly shivering so he took off his jacket and placed it around her and she smiled sweetly at him.

"Thanks, Jim. So, no easy way to say this..." Oh god. "Um...Roy and I broke up on Friday." Uh, what? Did Jim hear correctly?

"Um, what?" Pam laughed.

"Um, yeah. I wanted to tell you first. I know you didn't really like him and I'm not looking to date anyone at this moment but I could get behind it if the right person came along down the line." He swallowed. He definitely didn't want to be the rebound. "So, what I wanted to ask is if you would come help me car shop and apartment hunt? I really trust your judgement and I could really use a friend." She knocked shoulders against his. He beamed at her.

"I'm always there for you, Beesly." He echoed. She smiled at him and leaned her head on his shoulder and leaned his cheek against her head. "Where are you staying?" She took the cue.

"Roy and I have been separating our stuff all weekend, it was mostly his, though. I have been sleeping in the guest room and I finished moving all my stuff to my parent's house yesterday. I'm staying with Penny until I find a place though. She's picking me up tonight from work."

"I'd be happy to help you find a car."

"Cool, because I got to keep half the wedding fund so I want a good one." She smirked devilishly. He laughed.

"So, um...why did you break up?" He really didn't want to ask but as her friend, he probably should.

"I think we should have broken up a long time ago... It was overdue. I was just shocked when it happened and that Roy was finally honest and not blowing me off. I think I was more upset about the time I wasted than anything else." Jim nodded as she put her head on his shoulder.

"I get it."

"And it was super depressing how much stuff I don't have. I really need a shopping spree." Jim laughed.

"Maybe we can hit up the Steamtown Mall." She smiled at him, lifting her head from his shoulders.

"I'd really like that. Thanks." He smiled at her and then looked around for any cameras.

"We should probably get back down there. Dwight might have a conniption." Pam laughed and gave him his jacket back after nonchalantly sniffing the inside of his jacket. He held the door open for her as he regaled her with a prank idea. They were laughing as they entered the office and went to their seats.

Not long after, Pam went up to Accounting and spoke quietly to Angela.

"Angela."

"Pam." She responded.

"I need to change any mail that goes to my old place of residence. Please send them to my parent's address. This is their address." She handed Angela a slip of paper.

"I will be happy to take care of that for you." Angela stated and turned back to her work.

"Thank you." Pam turned to leave. She noticed a lot of people had their eyes on her curiously.

She looked up as Roy entered the office, looking awkward. Jim looked up, concerned. She made it seem like an amicable split but they'd been together for 8 years...There had to be some anger somewhere.

"Um, Pammy – I mean Pam." He amended under her glare. "This box was left behind. I wanted to return it and to let you know I am getting a job elsewhere. You were here first and I got an interview with a construction company." Pam rose and took the box from him, nodding in gratitude as she placed it in her area.

"Thank you for returning my box. I wish you the best." She said, oddly formal. She saw Jim make a concerned look at the camera.

"Are you sure you don't want the ring?" The office hushed and all eyes whipped toward Pam. "Uh, you didn't tell anyone?" He whispered, not so quietly. She shrugged.

"I don't like to talk much here." She replied. "Yes, everyone, Roy and I are no longer together, I moved, and now he's getting a different job. It's not weird, so don't make it weird." She turned to Roy. "I don't think it is right for me to keep it. Maybe sell it and get some new stuff for your bachelor pad?" He nodded.

"Okay, Pam. Take care."

"Bye, Roy."

"Bye, Pam." He turned and walked out of the office for the last time.

"I wonder why they broke up. I mean, if my fiancé broke up with me, I'd kill myself." Kelly told the camera.

"Who's Pam?" Creed asked, his forehead scrunching up in confusion.

"Who cares? Keep your sins out of this office." Angela scowled.

"Wait...Why didn't Pam tell me? I'm supposed to know first!" Michael whined. "Pam's hot. Maybe she's not so uptight under those receptionist clothes." He leered at the camera.

"Maybe they weren't right for each other." Jim smiled secretly as he looked down.

"I know Jim has been secretly in love with her for ages. Maybe this is his chance!" Phyllis squealed happily. She sighed. "Oh, they'd be so good together."

"Pam's so nice. Maybe in a few months, I'll ask her to dinner." Toby smiled shyly.

"She should go out to a club and get her sex onnnnn!"Meredith leered.

"Um...So Roy and I broke up. I'm fine with it. I'm just ready to take my next step. Maybe get an apartment with some nice natural light for my paintings." She sighed. "That would be nice." She smiled.

Jim sauntered over to reception and leaned against the desk, grabbing a jelly bean. He popped it in his mouth.

"So, Beesly...what are you looking for in an apartment?" She smiled and leaned in.

"A roof, four walls...you know basic necessities." She smiled coquettishly at him.

"So, no kitchen, no bathroom..." She laughed.

"Those would be nice. A laundry area would be nice. I printed a couple out. Let me know what you think." She slid some papers towards him. He flipped through one. His eyes widened.

"Beesly, this is a hovel." She laughed at him.

"Well, it's a hovel I can afford, Mr. Commission." He laughed.

"Is it okay if I look for some too? And some car ideas? I want you to be safe." She bit her lip and smiled at him.

"Of course."

Soon it was five. He stopped by the desk to say bye to Pam.

"Bye Beesly. You can text me tonight or IM if you want..." She smiled.

"I'd like that. Good night."

"Night."

"So, Pam... Did you tell Jim you're single?" Penny teased.

"Penny! Oh my god! "She blushed. "And not that it is any of your business but yes, I told him I don't want to date anyone this minute but I wouldn't be against it in the future." She smiled and looked down.

"Good. I think it would be good for you to be single for a while. So, tell me about the apartments you've found." Pam sighed.

"Oh, they're awful." She put her face in her hands. "I can't afford anything nice, even with my half of the wedding fund." She whined.

"Maybe a roommate?" Pam looked at her sister.

"But I was so looking forward to living alone..." She muttered.

"I know but I know if I didn't have Michael, I couldn't afford that house alone." Pam nodded.

"Just sad that I don't make enough to live off of alone. How do single moms do it?" Penny nodded. Pam sighed, thinking of Meredith and her two kids.

"It's crazy." She agreed.

"So, here's a crazy thought..." Mark started after Jim told him about his day.

"What's that?" Jim questioned as he flipped the grilled cheese.

"Maybe you should get an apartment with Pam!" Jim turned around.

"So... That's..." Jim paused thinking about it. He turned quickly and flipped the grilled cheese again.

"This is perfect! You can't afford this place by yourself; you could get a spacey, roomy apartment much better than this with Pam's help and you could save on gas and if it makes her fall in love with you that much faster, then what's the problem?" He queried, pointing his beer bottle at Jim. "Think about it."

Oh, he did. He was thinking about it. He didn't know if he could handle seeing Pam all the time. Seeing her getting out of the shower, finding out what shampoo she used... Watching her cook dinner, watching her do laundry. He sat up straighter as he pondered this thought. He put each grilled cheese on a plate and came around to the barstool and started eating, sipping on his beer occasionally, both Mark and himself entrenched in their own thoughts.

This could be his chance. He could get closer to Pam and find out if this crush really was the start of something better and bigger than anything they had between them before. He could really see if they could be a good couple.

"Hey Mark, can I borrow your printer?" Jim asked turning to his side as they were quietly eating soup and grilled cheese. Mark nodded around his spoon full of soup.

"Course. What for?" Jim smirked.

"Apartment listings." Mark grinned at him as they high-fived.


	4. Apartment Hunting

That night, after dinner was done and dishes were washed, Jim went to the internet and went searching for apartments. He noticed the one-bedroom ones were all located in bad areas. As Pam's friend, he couldn't let her pick one of those. He made a decent amount more than Pam, not that he deserved it. She definitely put up with a lot more with Michael, he was just a good salesman. He opened his instant messenger and saw that Pam was online.

JHalpert34: Beesly, fancy seeing you here.

PBeesly12: Lol! Dork!

JHalpert34: So, did you find any cars that you like?

PBeesly12: Ugh, idk. Should I get new or used? New cars are so expensive...

JHalpert34: Personal opinion but used. New cars depreciate and lose value extremely quickly. Better to get a used car. Some cars have more durability than others.

PBeesly12: Right. You have a Toyota.

JHalpert34: Yes, I do. My sister has a Chevy Malibu, if that helps. I helped her pick out that car. It has high crash rating and as long as it was taken care of, it'll last a long time. Soon, I'll get a new one. Soonish.

Depending if he got this apartment with Pam, he might use up his savings for the first month's rent versus a newer car, like he planned on.

PBeesly12: Okay, thanks! I'll check into those two brands of cars.

JHalpert34: Again, in my opinion, the Impala's remind me of drug lords and the Aveo line into Cobalt's don't last that long so Malibu's the best bet for Chevy. For Toyota, anything is good. Honda is okay too.

PBeesly12: Gotcha. No more news on the apartment hunt. I'd like to stay in Scranton...

JHalpert34: Well, we have some interviews lined up, right? So, we can tour them and see what you like.

PBeesly12: Right! Thanks for coming with me, Jim. I don't know what I'd do without you. *Hug*

Jim smiled at his screen.

JHalpert34: The things I do for you, Beesly. *hug*

PBeesly12: Shoot. My niece is bugging me to play Pretty, Pretty Princess with her. Gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow?

JHalpert34: Mad jealous of your Princessing. I got the address; I'll see you at 10?

PBeesly12: Dork! 😛 See you then!

PBeesly12 has signed off.

Jim spent the next couple hours scrounging around looking at two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartments when he found an open house for a house to rent. Intrigued, he clicked on the link and clicked through some pictures. Lots of natural light, perfect for Pam's art. Two car garage, perfect. Nice kitchen, not furnished, not a deal breaker. He clicked on the description.

_Scranton native seeks responsible tenants to rent house as he retires to Florida. References needed. Motivated to rent quickly. Rent negotiable, tenants responsible for utilities and any damage incurred. Pets allowed under city guidelines. Two-bedroom, one bath, spacious recently remodeled kitchen, two car garage, wiring and plumbing up to code and plenty of natural light. Outdoors is a hot jet tub and small yard, perfect for small gatherings. Neighbors are quiet but nice. Perfect home in the small city. _

Jim smiled broadly as he printed it out as well as other two-bedroom apartments that were way over-priced.

Now to only convince Pam...

"Pam, I'm only saying..." Penny swooped a spoon full of peas into her toddler's mouth as she giggled around the spoon. "Very good, dear!" She cooed. "Pam, I'm just saying maybe you can convince Jim to move with you!" Pam smiled at the sight of her niece.

"Penny...I'm telling you that he has a roommate, Mark!" Penny shook her head.

"Okay, okay! Maybe someone else from work has a room you can rent!" Pam shook her head at her sister.

"I'm going to concentrate on the apartment hunting, then car and if neither of those pan out then I'll see who's looking for a roommate." Penny sighed but reluctantly admitted it was a good plan.

"Oh here. Mom and Dad pooled some money with Michael and I to help towards your new place and or the car situation." Penny handed her a bulging envelope.

"Penny! Oh my god." She gasped as she saw all the bills. "I can't accept this!" Penny shook her head in refusal.

"I won't take it back. You helped so much with my little ones when we were starting out and we love you. We don't mind helping you get back on your feet." Tears sprung to Pam's eyes.

"Thank you guys so much." She cried as she hugged her sister.

Jim soon stopped by to pick her up for their first interview. She opened the passenger door and sat down. She looked over at Jim and blushes slightly. He was looking very attractive in his jeans and casual hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap. He smirked at her reaction and motioned to her coffee he bought her with the recognizable green markings.

"Oh my god, thank you!" She said happily as she sipped the beverage. He smiled as she happily drank the coffee. He was pleased at her reaction to his outfit and thought she looked beautiful. She wore fitted jeans and a worn hooded sweatshirt with her hair flowing around her face and light makeup.

"You look very pretty, Pam." He murmured as he changed gears as he started towards the first house. Her cheeks darkened as she looked down.

"Thank you, Jim. I put effort in today. It's nice to be around girls again." She laughed. Jim smiled as he reached for his coffee at the same time she was putting hers in the cupholder and their fingers touched. "Oh gosh, sorry! Go ahead!" She held her coffee cup so he could grab hers. He smiled around a sip of coffee.

"So, Pam, any apartments we have a good feeling about today?" Pam went into her bag and pulled out a few sheets of paper, where she jotted some notes on.

"Not really. I'm just looking for a good deal, so I don't have to pay a fortune." Jim nodded as he pulled into their first appointment in a not so nice area. He scowled at the teenage boys hooting and hollering at Pam. Soon, the apartment leaser came by and gave them a quick tour and although she was nice, it wasn't the place for her. She shook her head.

They went on to four more apartments and Jim understood Pam's mounting frustration at the basic things she wanted. Jim hesitated to ask her but decided to go for it as they were waiting for food in the drive through.

"Pam..." She looked up and made a questioning noise at him. "Mark got engaged."

"Oh my god! To Alyssa?" Jim nodded. "Oh my gosh, how cute!" She squeed happily. "How big was the ring?" Jim laughed.

"Pretty big, I think he was saving for a while." She giggled.

"Was she absolutely thrilled?" She leaned her face in her hand that was balanced on her knee.

"She was overjoyed." She sighed. "But Mark's moving out..." He trailed off. "So, I was thinking we could look at some bigger places and maybe we could share... Sometimes it's nice not being home alone. I like sharing a house with someone...whether it's my parents or Mark but I think it would be cool to live with my best friend..." Pam looked conflicted. On one hand, she did really like Jim and being so close to him might make her feel even more into him but on the other hand, she didn't want to jump into a new relationship so soon. Jim saw on her face she was conflicted. Excited but reserved. "How about this? Let's go to the bigger apartments I scheduled and see if you like any. Besides, if anyone can handle me, Beesly, it's you." She smiled at him, looked introspective for a minute.

"Okay. I'll look. But no promises yet. In the effort of full disclosure, my parents and Penny gave me a couple grand to help with the apartment and car situation." Jim blinked.

"Whoa." She nodded as if still in shock.

"I know! I've never had this much cash in my hands before." She paused as she got the drive through food passed to her. "I'm afraid to touch it in case it disappears." Jim smirked at her.

"Maybe you should have paid for lunch then, Beesly." She giggled around a sip of soda.

"Thanks for paying for my lunch, Jim." She demurred, looking through her lashes. Jim internally cheered at getting her to at least look at the places he selected. They finished up their lunch as they talked quietly.

"Come on, Jim. Can I at least see the places you picked?" Jim shook his head in defiance as they headed to a better part of town than the ones that she selected. "Why not?" She pouted.

"Because I want your genuine reaction. I can read you like a book, Beesly. I want to know what you really think." Jim replied as he turned down a couple streets and came to an apartment building. She looked at it and looked at Jim.

"I don't think I can afford this, Jim." She whispered. Jim opened his door but looked at Pam.

"Come on, let's just look." They met with the apartment owner and they showed them around but they both quietly agreed that it was much too modern, all clean lines and no hominess. They wanted a place to feel like home not like a sterile living space.

They went to a couple more and both Jim and Pam were not really feeling the bigger apartments either. Jim drove them to the last place, a house. Pam looked at Jim as they pulled in.

"Jim, you didn't buy a house, did you?" She demanded, hands going to her hips.

"Of course not! I do not have that much saved up!" She squinted at him. She had to stop looking so cute. He opened the door as the owner stepped out.

"Hi, I'm Jim and this is Pam. We're interested in renting this house. I saw your ad." The older man smiled.

"Great! I'm John. This house I remodelled when my wife requested me to. We're retiring to Florida but this was our first house so we wanted to rent it versus selling it to make sure it's still in good hands. We have a lot of memories in this house." He enthused, hands gesturing. "Are you employed?" Jim nodded.

"We both actually work in Scranton. We work at Dunder Mifflin, the paper distributor." Pam piped up, looking at the charming house. It was a really cute house on the outside.

"I've heard of them! I actually know one of the corporate people, David Wallace. I'm a lawyer so I did some work for David and Dunder Mifflin on some contracts." He smiled broadly at them. "Well, look at me chattering away, come on in!" He opened the white gate that framed the front lawn and beckoned them in. He opened the front door and ushered them in. "Lizzie! We have a couple that want to look at the house. They work for that paper company I did that contract work for back in 01!" An elderly person came out of the kitchen quickly. She smiled sweetly at them.

"Lovely to meet you! I'm Elizabeth Henley but call me Lizzie. I was worried we weren't going to get anyone. Aren't you the cutest couple I've ever seen?" She cooed. "Well, let us show you around the place." They walked through the kitchen which was pretty spacious and updated, a decent sized living room but the biggest appeal in the living room was the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the backyard and in the background the forest behind it. It gave so much light to the space. The windows had a little door that led to their small backyard. The bedrooms were nice and equally roomy and the bathroom had an updated spa like shower head and separate soaking tub.

"So, like I said in the ad, unfortunately we have to take the furniture to our new place in Tallahassee but we're leaving the jet tub outside. Can't really take that with us!" John chuckled.

Jim watched Pam move throughout the house and saw how she kept looking at that wall of window and looking outside at the serene landscape and knew they had to take it.

"I think it would be good for Jim and I to go thrifting anyways. It's so fun." Pam smiled. Lizzie smiled back.

"I agree. I have a friend that owns a nice consignment shop full of furniture and knick knacks and I'll muscle her into giving you a discount. Its over near the Steamtown Mall. I'll write down the address." Lizzie wandered off to find a sheet of paper.

"So do you have any references, I'll speak to David to see if he knows the two of you." Jim pulled out a folded sheet of paper and handed a couple references to him that he always had saved up, just in case. He just barely remembered to brign them this morning.

"I'd like to talk about the rent." Jim spoke.

"Sure. We want at least $1,400 a month." John replied.

"$1,200 and I'll replace anything that breaks in the house while we live here." Jim haggled.

"Done." John stated happily.

"Jim!" Pam cried out. "We haven't even talked about it yet." Jim smiled serenely, not budging.

"We'd like a first month rent and then we can sign a contract." Jim opened his mouth and Pam interjected.

"Done. I have the cash right now." John blinked. He turned to Lizzie and she nodded happily. He turned to Jim.

"Your girlfriend doesn't mess around, does she?" Jim stared at her and she stared back, raising a eyebrow at him, challenging him. He caved.

"That she doesn't." Jim smirked at her as she glared slightly. Neither one bothered to correct John. John shuffled off and grabbed a contract off the kitchen counter.

"This is a general rental agreement. Nothing really out of the ordinary, take as much time as you want to look over it. We were going to have the moving company pack everything up by Wednesday and you can stop by and get keys that night and then you can move in after that." Pam stepped forward and handed Jim the $1200 from her envelope, smiling sunnily at Jim's open-mouthed expression. She was feisty... Jim liked that. He didn't often see this side of her. Pam grabbed the contract and read it thoroughly before nodding and handing it off to Jim, thanking Lizzie for the cup of tea she handed her.

Jim watched Pam for longer than he probably should have. So, this was happening. He was moving in with Pam. He shook himself out of his thoughts and looked over the contract, not really seeing the words that were on the page but then reading it again. He did have a couple questions but John answered them quickly and succinctly.

"So, here's what we will do. I will call these people and if everything works out, I will call you on Tuesday and we can meet up on Wednesday and exchange the money for keys and sign the contract." John stated as they handed the contract to him unsigned.

"Sounds good." Jim agreed as they chatted idly before Jim and Pam went to go back to their car.

After they departed, Pam walked away from the dealership with a relatively new baby blue Toyota Yaris that Pam fell in love with. He watched as Pam drove away in her new car.

Penny couldn't stop laughing as Pam regaled her with her horrible apartment tours.

"Please tell me you're joking!" Penny slammed her fist on the table in laughter.

"I'm telling you; I saw mouse droppings!" Pam cried incredulously.

"Oh my god! What did Jim say?" Penny demanded.

"He took one look around and went 'Nope.' and we went back to the car." Penny laughed uproariously.

"Oh my god, Pam. Your luck, I swear." Penny laughed, shaking her head.

"Um... so we didn't totally strike out though..." Penny looked up and saw Pam's pensive look and waited. "Jim found a house for sale... and if all goes well, we'll be moving into there." Penny waited. "Together..." Penny threw back her head and laughed loudly. "Penny, I swear to god..."

"I knew it! I told you! You were all nuh-uh..." Penny continued laughing at Pam's not impressed face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Pam grumbled. "But the place is so nice and I'm excited. He's going to call our references on Monday and let us know Tuesday."

"Okay, okay, I'll stop."

"I'd appreciate it." She muttered with a glare at her sister.

"So, I assume from your grin that you asked Pam to live with you." Mark remarked as Jim couldn't wipe the look from his face.

"I found this amazing place. You should have seen her face when she saw the place, I had to get it. I had haggled a rent price before she even said yes."

"Was she mad?" Jim smirked.

"A little. But she's so cute when she's mad though. I once got her to put her hands on her hips." He snickered.

"Oh, I know. Alyssa's so cute when she's gets mad but don't tell them that. They get really mad when you tell them that." Mark told him seriously, imparting sage advice.

"So, the soonest I could move in is like this coming weekend." Jim remarked to Mark.

"Really? That soon?" Mark gaped.

"Yeah, this guy is moving to Florida, he was just waiting to pack until he got a renter to take it. So, Pam's fronting the first month, if we get it, I'll find out Tuesday. So, we can put in our notice of moving and I'll give my half of the rent to you." Mark nodded.

"Sounds good to me, dude." He opened the fridge and got two beers. "ESPN?" Jim nodded and grabbed a beer from him.

Monday dragged on for both Jim and Pam. It blended into Tuesday eventually.

"Hello?" Jim answered his phone. Pam's eyes widened as she saw Jim take a personal call. "Oh, hi John." Pam mouthed 'Oh my god!' to him and Jim mouthed back 'I know!' and gesturing to the door which Pam immediately nodded and jetted out. "I'm just going to run to a private spot to talk to you, hold on."

It was a really good thing that Jim and Pam were on the same wavelength as they met on the roof.

"So, hi John." Jim continued as he entered the top of the roof, Pam crowding in on him, wanting to hear the conversation.

"So, I talked to David and he said both glowing things about you and Pam and told me to tell you that you needed to fill out a form with HR or something but Lizzie and I discussed it and we'd love to meet up and finalize things maybe tonight? I'm going to call the movers after we verbally finalize things so maybe by Friday, we will have everything out, if that sounds good?" Pam nodded quickly.

"That sounds perfect. See you tonight, around 7?" John answered an approval and they hung up shortly after that. Jim looked at Pam and saw her beaming smile. "So, we have a house!" Pam squealed happily and jumped up wrapping arms around his neck happily. He swung her around excitedly as he enjoyed her happy giggling.

"This is insane how perfectly this is coming together." Pam said as she was placed on the ground. She tried not to think about how nice and defined his shoulders were that she felt as he swung her around.

"Sometimes thinks work out, Beesly." He remarked as he tried to get the smell of her shampoo out of his head.

"So, I want to go to that consignment shop Lizzie was telling me about... Maybe we can get some furniture and stuff?" Pam asked as she leaned back and tilted her head up at him.

Jim looked down on Pam and tried not to think about how pretty she was.

"I'm game."


	5. Getting Comfortable

The weekend came sooner than neither Pam and Jim could believe. They spent time alternately being with each other picking out furniture to be delivered thanks to Lizzie's glowing endorsement from the consignment shop. Jim brought the couch from his apartment and the furniture from his bedroom. They picked out some furniture together but mostly Pam went to Target for most of her stuff that she needed for the kitchen while Jim packed up his stuff during the week.

Pam stopped by an art supplies store on her way to the mall one day. She went with Kelly, which turned out to be a mistake. She yammered on the whole time about her love life that Pam had to promise her that she would listen to her if they went into the art supply store. Once she was in there and she was thinking about the amazing light the window offered, she just went crazy, dipping into her wedding fund to buy a nice quality easel that folded up to fit in her car and multiple canvases of various lengths and more paint and paintbrushes that she would ever need, she walked out broker but happy.

Pam willingly put up with all the chatter and let Kelly weigh in on some new clothes and helped Kelly get opinions on her new clothes.

What was kind of awkward was the conversation they had to have with Toby. Now that David Wallace, the CFO, was aware that they were living together, they kind of had to tell Toby. On Friday, Jim and Pam went to see Toby.

"Hey, guys..." Toby intoned, smiling at Pam. Jim arched a brow at Toby. Toby wasn't as subtle as he thought about his crush on Pam. He has been crushing on her way longer and was way deeper in denial about it than Toby was, if at all. He could read it on his face and actions a mile away.

"Hi Toby." Pam said happily. Bad move, Pam. Jim could clearly see the interest growing in Toby's eyes as he took in her happiness for interest in him. He looked at the camera, concerned. He looked back at Toby.

"So..." Jim started the awkward conversation, the awkwardness increased by the obvious interest in Pam which he knew was one sided. Or at least he didn't know of any crushes that she had on any co-workers... Would she tell him if she did? What if she did and she didn't tell him? Need to put the brakes on this before this thought spirals out of control. He continued on. "David Wallace said we need to sign something for you. A form type thing..." He trailed off as Toby's easy demeanor slid into suspicion as he looked at the two of them and how kind of close they were standing.

"Jim and I are becoming roommates!" Pam said happily, looking at Jim. Jim smiled at her and beamed at Toby. Toby frowned and looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Well, the disclosure forms are kind of for serious relationships. Are you dating?" Toby's expression indicated that he hoped they were not dating. Pam looked at Jim, who looked back at her. She turned to Toby.

"Well, we are not." Yet, if Jim had anything to say about it. "But we will be living together. I think that is just as if not more serious than just dating." Pam frowned at Toby. "Are you not happy about this? Is it not allowed?" She crossed her arms, looking uncomfortable at the response she was getting from Toby.

"Oh, I agree..." Toby looking much warmer now that he realized they weren't dating. "I'll have to draft up some new ones that are for people only living together..." He turned back.

"Yeah, I think we should just sign the regular one." Jim interjected, staring down Toby. Toby raised an eyebrow as Pam turned to Jim with a questioning look. He smiled serenely. "Just cover all the bases." Pam smiled at him and she turned back around to look at Toby who was frowning at Jim. Jim smirked and Toby frowned harder and looked at the camera sadly. He sighed and went into the drawer and pulled out a blank form and filled in Pam and Jim's name, sighing over and over again. Jim peered at the camera and pointed his eyes skyward. Toby handed over the form for them to sign and they did happily. Jim also requested that they change their address with Human Resources as well.

Pam returned to her desk and Jim leaned up against the desk and took a jellybean. Strawberry, nice.

"So, what was with the male posturing?" Pam queried.

"What do you mean?" Jim put on his arms on the desk. She stared him down. He sighed.

"I'm just helping you out, Beesly." She smirked and leaned into him more. His eyes dilated and she smirked.

"How were you doing that, exactly, Jim?" She said looking at his lips. She brought her eyes up to his eyes and warmed at the heated look in his eyes. He swallowed.

"Toby's into you." He managed to get out. Pam reared back in surprise.

"What?" She said, incredulously. Jim nodded, clearing his head.

"Yep. Totally into you. I'm just trying to help you, Beesly." He pushed off the desk and went to turn when Pam grabbed his arm.

"Come on! Tell me!" She pleaded, making big eyes at Jim. He turned back.

"Toby has a little crush on you." Jim told her.

"No way! He's just nice to me." Pam shook her head.

"Yeah because he wants in your pants." Jim smirked at her. Pam looked horrified. He smirked as he walked away from her desk as she was still floundering as she processed this information.

Toby? She cringed just thinking about it. Toby was a nice enough guy but not nearly interesting enough for her. She definitely didn't to get involved with a recent divorcee with a child no less, no offense to Toby.

Early Saturday morning, Pam loaded her stuff in her brother-in-law's truck. She did have quite a bit more than she had when she left the apartment she shared with Roy. She met Jim at the new place and he was moving his stuff in Friday night with the help of his old roommate so Jim could help move her in her things before the arrival of their furniture. They soon unpacked and started settling in.

Nothing much changed in the coming couple months except learning each other's quirks. They went to work as usual and soon they got their tv hooked up and sometimes Jim watched ESPN as Pam sketched next to him and sometimes Pam watched trashy reality television in her huge glasses with a bowl of popcorn in front of her. He didn't find this cute at all.

He especially didn't find it cute when he first caught her propped in front of her canvas for the first-time painting in a sweatshirt that was very familiar to him. Because it was his. And he refused to find her subsequent apologies when he got paint on it cute too. They were friends.

Sometimes he could have sworn that he felt some tension between the two of them of a sexual nature but he just tried to ignore it because they were friends. And friends don't try and make out with each other, even if they wanted to...

He walked in one day to Pam dancing around to 80's music as she made something on the stove. She must not have heard him due to the music being blasted but he cleared his throat and she whipped around, startled with a spatula in her hand as a weapon. Jim held up his hands in surrender. She blew out a sigh of relief.

"Don't do that!" She scolded.

"Sorry you couldn't hear me over..." He leaned over and looked at Pam's new iPod she bought herself in the speaker system they hooked up. "Bryan Adams' Summer of '69..." He put some laughter in his voice towards the end of the sentence.

"Shush!" She pointed the spatula at him. She turned back to the stove. "Any luck of sales calls? You promised to buy me that new paint set if you did..." Jim chuckled as he sat himself at the breakfast bar, watching her cook dinner on the stove.

"Yes, dear." He replied sardonically. In a more serious tone he added, "I did actually. I didn't think I would when I made that promise but I wouldn't leave a lady hanging."

"Can't back out now, Halpert." She replied, not turning around. "Or you don't get any dinner." He sniffed the air.

"Smells really good, what is it?"

"Chicken piccata."

"Yum. I will definitely get that paint set for you then, Beesly. Just keep the food coming."

"I knew you only wanted me for my food, Halpert." She smiled over her shoulder as she put the steaming food on two dinner plates and went to rinse out the pan. _Oh, if you only knew, _thought Jim. _If you only knew._

Living with Jim was interesting. She knew Jim from work of course and knew he was a mild-mannered salesman with a great sense of humor and dashing good looks. But what she found out by living with him was that he was a mild-mannered extremely attractive man with a few drawbacks. Of course, she knew she had those as well. Who didn't? She didn't shave her legs _every single time_. She didn't like showering, not to be gross, she preferred baths. If she did shower, she had this horrible habit over the last week of smelling and using a small portion of Jim's incredibly good smelling body wash. She also had a horrible habit of mistakenly or not so mistakenly stealing Jim's sweatshirts to wear. She didn't know why she wanted to steal his sweatshirts so much, she forgot that she was wearing them and got paint on them. Jim was very gracious about it but she still felt terrible. She was a little crabby when she was on her period. She didn't like to wake up in the morning and became a little dragon when Jim knocked on her bedroom door and tried to wake her up to go to work. That she felt bad about but she'd always been bad about waking up.

Jim left the toilet seat up, left beer bottles on the coffee table and he was a morning person. Ugh. He left clothes everywhere and hated grocery shopping. But those things she could live with.

But the thing that irritated her the most was he consistently went into the hot tub without her. It was totally unfair.

"Jim!" She cried. "Why can't you wait for me?" She pouted with her hands on her hips as she saw him in the tub already, arms fanned out, with an eyebrow raised.

"Beesly, you take way too much time!" He picked on her. She pouted fiercer. "Oh, stop, come on in! I just tested the water, no water bacteria here!" Jim patted the water and Pam reluctantly put her towel to the side and climbed in after toeing off her sandals. She sat across from him with her arms crossed. He stared at her and she stared right back, not giving in for a second. "Pam..." She smirked and he groaned dramatically. "Okay, okay, you win!" She cheered before clicking the button for the jets to come on and their play fight went out of their heads as the jets hit their backs and they both groaned and avoided eye contact. It was a sort of unspoken pact between the two of them that they ignore the mounting sexual tension running between them. Sometimes had to give, it just didn't give yet.

Pam lifted her feet as she pointed her instep towards the jet and tilted her head back in pleasure as the tub's jet relieved some of her pain from those damn heels she wears. She really needed to switch to flats. Jim's eyes pointed skywards as she moaned in pleasure. Why does she have to make that sound? It was sinful. He counted back from five, thought about Dwight naked, oh yep that worked. He made a decision. This isn't about being a good person sometimes. He was no angel, he was a mostly good guy but he didn't claim to be a saint. He grabbed her foot and started massaging her instep. Pam tried to hold back the moans that wanted to protrude from her throat but she wasn't entirely successful.

"Sorry, those heels kill my feet." She murmured as he dropped the other foot her was massaging and then kept his hands to himself.

"Yeah, they kill mine too." Jim joked and Pam giggled. He stretched out and sighed in satisfaction. "I love this weather." Pam nodded.

"It's perfect. I'm so glad we have this hot tub." She confided in him. He nodded in agreement.


	6. Basketball

Pam Beesly was killing him. She really was. Sure, she had some bad habits but it wasn't anything he couldn't live with. More than once, he had covered her with blanket when she's fallen asleep on the couch. And sure, more than once he carried her to her room. Her brightly colored room with her water-colored bedspread, wishing that he was invited in here for less innocent reasons. He looked around at the various knick-knacks displayed in her bedroom, famous paintings pinned to a pinboard along with an orange and white wedding display. He asked her the next morning why she kept that picture and she smiled sadly.

"To remind myself to only marry the person I love with all my heart." He didn't press for any more details.

But he couldn't help but smile as he leaned on the doorway, looking at Pam's sleeping form on the couch, a forgotten television show rolling in the background., Her hand pillowed under her face with her face looking serene. He imagined her laying like that next to him. He got the slightly bigger bedroom due to his obnoxiously huge queen bed that his parents got him. It was sometimes too big for him sleeping alone.

Aside from the hot tub incident, she hadn't done anything super sexual but she didn't have to. She was effortlessly sexy to him. How sometimes when he was painting, she threw up her hair and pinned it with a spare paintbrush. Which wouldn't be that bad except for the action pronounced the lickable line of her neck. And how she would concentrate on her sketching the painting she had in her head on slow Saturdays and she would start painting her idea on canvas, the sunlight pouring around her. He would sit at the breakfast bar and just watch her, pretending to sip a coffee in the morning, sitting in basketball shorts and a tee.

And the reaction he had with her wearing his sweatshirts nearly did him in. He knows he should not have such a reaction to seeing her in his clothes but he couldn't help the thrill it gave him. He kind of wanted to see her wear something that was distinctly his to the office, so everyone could see that she was his. But she wasn't his. At least, not yet. He wanted to wait for the right moment.

Day by day, he was falling more and more in love with Pam. He was around her all the time. He saw her coming out of the bathroom, her hair dripping, the curls weighed down by the drops of water, wrapped only in a towel. The perfume of her shampoo and body wash emanating in a cloud of scent that he smelled on a small level when he hung around her. How adorable she looked when she didn't have her contacts in and wore her huge dorky glasses and he gave her crap for it and she pouted. How she had such a hard time getting up in the morning and was so grumpy until she had some coffee. How grumpy she would be when he would knock on the door to make sure she got to work on time.

How sometimes she would be on her cell phone with her sister or mom and she would sit on her bed or the couch on her stomach and kicked her legs out in back of her swishing as she talked. She acted like such a 90's kid sometimes, it was adorable. He could just imagine her wrapping her fingers around a cord as she talked on the phone with her best girl friend. Pam definitely wasn't making it easy for him to not fall more in love with her.

Pam looked up as a young man approached her desk. He had red hair and green eyes and dressed in casual clothes so she knew he was a warehouse worker.

"Hello." He intoned with a flirtatious tone. Pam saw out of the corner of her eye Jim look up and run his eyes over the young man. Nope, he didn't like him.

"Hi..." Pam said awkwardly.

"So, do you have a name?" He asked leaning in. Pam stopped from rolling her eyes.

"Yes...Pam Beesly. Can I help you with something?" She queried, professionally.

"My name is Warren. I need to talk to HR about my employment application." Pam nodded.

"Hi Toby, it's Pam. I have someone here to speak to you. Could you come out?" She listened for a second. "Thank you." She hung up. "He'll be out in second." She said, turning back to her screen, not feeling comfortable with his gaze. She tried to put him out of her mind.

One night after work as Jim was attempting to leave, Michael cornered him to muscle him join in a friendly game of basketball between the warehouse crew and the office staff. He wanted to get home and watch the game that was on and he agreed to just get out of there so he wouldn't miss it.

That evening, Jim finally arrived back at the house that Pam and him shared and walked into a wonderfully smelling house.

"What is that smell?" Jim asked as he hung up his jacket and loosened his buttons around his wrist and loosened his tie. Pam looked up and smiled as she poured herself some wine.

"Just some dinner. The game should be on soon. I thought you'd like some pizza to watch during it. I made it. It should be ready soon." He'd love to do something even more domestic than this scene was right now and kiss her head affectionately but he settled for hugging her tight. She laughed and pushed him away. "Enough of that, Halpert. I picked up your favorite beer too." How did Roy let her escape? She's like the perfect girlfriend.

"You're the best, Beesly." He murmured as he sniffed the air and went to the fridge and got a beer and cracked it open.

"So, what took so long to get back? I left a while ago." Pam opened the oven to check on the pizza.

"Michael's making me participate in that stupid basketball game tomorrow." Pam scoffed.

"Really?" She shook her head incredulously. "I mean, how's your game?" Jim raised his eyebrows at her. "I mean, I have to know if I should just vote for the other team if you suck."

"Beesly! You're an office staff, you have to cheer for me!" Pam leaned into the kitchen counter.

"Says who?" She intoned, grabbing her wine glass and taking a sip, not taking her eyes off of the man in front of her.

"Says the guy who was a varsity basketball player..." Jim leaned into Pam as well, the tension heightening between them.

"Well, I guess I'll have to root for you then, huh." Pam pulled back as the timer went off on the oven and the moment was shattered. Jim pulled back reluctantly and Pam went to take out the pizza from the oven.

Pam wordlessly handed him a slice. She smiled warmly at him.

"I'm going to take a bath and read a book while you watch the game. Let me know who wins." She told him with a wink. He watched her go get her bathrobe and could hear the water starting in the bathroom. He shook his head free of thoughts and put the game on and tried not to think of Pam naked in their bathroom.

He wasn't that successful.

Warren was standing outside the building, lighting a cigarette and he tilted his head back as he thought about that uptight secretary that he met yesterday. He might try and get her. She seemed like a quiet one and they all say the same thing about the quiet ones... Crazy in bed.

A Toyota rolled through and parked in a spot down further in the parking lot. The uptight secretary he was just thinking about rolled out of the car, laughing at something the driver said to her. He thought he might just be dropping her off but then out stepped a salesman that he saw on the floor when he was upstairs before he met Toby to finalize some paperwork.

This ruins his plans. He would overcome this obstacle and he would make her his. Then he saw this salesman get a duffel out of his car and swing it over his shoulder. So, he was playing in the basketball game. Interesting...

Jim had settled at his desk when Michael strolled.

"Jim, you ready?" Jim held up his bag. "Good man. Ryan, you ready?" Ryan held up his bag.

"Michael, aren't you going to ask if I'm ready?" Dwight queried, lifting his own duffel bag. Michael just turned and walked away.

Soon, the lunch time approached and everyone shuffled downstairs to the warehouse to watch the friendly basketball game. The loser had to work that Saturday. Jim did not want to work this Saturday so he was going to do something he rarely did at work... Try.

He quickly changed and headed downstairs while warming up a little bit standing next to Pam. She turned to him.

"Good luck, Jim. I don't want to work this Saturday. I'll be your cheerleader." She smiled at him, neither of them seeing Warren's jealous stare.

"I appreciate that, Beesly. Be prepared to take notice of my mad skills." She giggled and pushed on his shoulder playfully. A whistle blew and Pam watched Jim go to his teammates, even Dwight.

"Alright, everyone. Nice, fun game. We're all family here. Dunder Mifflin family." Michael enthused.

The game began and it was getting really aggressive quite early between some staff. Namely, Jim and Warren. Jim got a shot and made it and Warren would steal and make the shot. Pam cheered when Jim got a shot in the hoop, making sure her saw her. But for the most part, she stayed quiet as the warehouse was racking up the points but then Jim switched to being the main player and he was swishing the ball in effortlessly. Muscle memory was a real thing. She knew that if someone put a volleyball in her hands, she'd school them. Not a lot of people knew that she used to be athletic in her high school and college days. Well, except Roy but he didn't count. Not anymore.

Over the past couple months, Pam really started coming into her own. She went and got highlights in her hair, she got some new clothes, she started painting again. She was just really happy with her life. Someday maybe she would be open to a new relationship maybe with Jim but she was pretty happy with how their relationship was headed right now.

"Foul!" Michael crowed. "Aggression, Jim, are you okay?" Jim had his hand over his mouth and he pulled it back and it was bloody.

"Oh my god." Pam uttered. She rose up from her seat and hurried over to Jim. "Are you okay, Jim?" He nodded but his hand kept coming back with more blood when he took it away from his mouth. "Let's see if we can get the bleeding stopped." She guided him over to the chair and had him sit down and went to get the first aid kit and some paper towels. Warren stomped over.

"Hands off." Warren growled. Jim raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" Jim rose to his feet, towering over the little punk.

"I call dibs." Jim scoffed incredulously.

"First of all, she is not a prize to be won, she's a person. You can't call dibs. Second of all, you're a punk." Jim looked down serenely at the person who dared disrespect Pam.

Pam entered the room with some paper towels and dabbed at his face to see where the bleeding started to see if he damaged something. She really didn't want him to lose a tooth. She loved his smile and she would be really angry if his smile got damaged by some warehouse guy. She didn't pay any attention to Warren, who's smirk faltered as he saw that his plan was backfiring on him. She wasn't paying any attention to him; all her attention was on Jim. Jim wrapped an arm around Pam's shoulder, not breaking eye contact with Warren.

Warren saw red. He went to push Jim but at the last second, Pam moved and he pushed her instead and she went careening closer to Jim, who lost his balance and fell into the metal chair which crashed to the ground under the strain of the two people falling. Phyllis gasped and immediately tried to help Pam and Jim up.

"Warren! My office!" Toby declared. He may not have a chance at Pam right now but he'd be damned if he let an act of aggression hurt her in any way.

"Pam, are you okay?" Jim helped her get up with Phyllis' help.

"Yeah, I hit my shoulder a bit but I will be okay. God, what is his problem?" She scoffed angrily. "He was totally creeping me out when he needed to sign that thing from Toby the other day." She shivered. Jim wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. "Are you okay? You landed pretty hard." He squeezed her arm where he could reach it.

"I'm fine, Beesly. We'll definitely enjoy the hot tub tonight." He whispered conspiratorially in her ear, relishing in her giggles.

Jim drove them home after work which the rest of the day was relatively quiet aside from Warren storming out of the conference room and slamming the door behind him. Pam heard he was fired for aggression against her but she thought he might have been trying to hit Jim.

They backed into the garage, talking lightly as they entered the house. Jim went to go check the water, testing it quickly and coming back in to change. Pam toed off her heels and started defrosting some meat to make meatballs for dinner. She picked up her heels and went into the bedroom to change into more comfortable clothes which did not include a sweatshirt of Jim's, unfortunately. She got talked, read forced, into getting a Victoria's Secret lounge set by Kelly when they went to the mall the other day. She thought it was way too much money for a stupid sweatshirt and sweatpants but they were baby pink which she thought looked good on her. It didn't help that Kelly hinted that Jim thought she looked nice in pink too. That didn't have anything to do with it at all. She padded out to the kitchen and rolled up her sleeves to get to work rolling out the meatballs, blending herbs and spices as Jim walked back in to the house. He looked at her with her hair in a ponytail, no makeup on, glasses perched on her nose and in a sweat set and though she never looked more beautiful.

"That's new." He commented as he plopped on a barstool at the breakfast nook, watching her roll out the meatballs. Jim offered to help her with dinner loads of times but she seemed to enjoy making dinner for the two of them but he was adamant about cleaning the dishes as she hated to do them, preferring to let them pile up. Pam looked down at her new around the house outfit.

"Yeah, Kelly made me get it." She dropped meatballs into the bottom of the Pyrex dish and took out a jar of gravy from the cabinet.

"I like it." She dimpled at him.

"Thank you." She smiled. She threw the meatballs in the oven and grabbed the kitchen timer and spun it for the correct time. "Now who's ready for some hot jet tub?" He raised his hand and high fived it. "Let's go get changed." Soon, they met at the hot tub and dipped in, Jim groaning at the muscles he hadn't used in a while got massaged by the jets. "Are you alright? From the game?" Pam queried as she took advantage of the jets. Jim nodded.

"It was going fine and then he elbowed me right in the nose." Pam frowned.

"Is that normal?" Pam didn't know much about basketball.

"Definitely not normal. I don't know what his problem was but he was being super aggressive towards me. I still have some dried blood I think." Pam leaned forward and took a look at his nose, touching it lightly to see if it was bruised or if the light was just too dark.

"He's a psycho." Pam shook her head. "It doesn't look bruised or anything. Did it hurt for the rest of the day?"

"Nah. Just a little twinge here and there, I'll live. It was just like caveman attitude. He frazzled me a little."

"Oh, no. Not frazzled." Pam joked as she leaned back away from Jim back into her corner. Time passed slowly as they joked and spoke about lighter subjects until the buzzer went off next to the hot tub and Pam reluctantly left the warm water and wrapped herself in the towel as she headed inside. Jim rose, water dripping as he grabbed a towel as well, stepping into the warm house after dripping as much as he could outside. Pam grabbed the meatballs out of the oven and started serving them on a couple plates.

"Bon appetite!" She crowed. Jim dug in, mumbling how good the food was.

"So, Pam. I wanted to talk to you." Jim started. Pam made a questioning sound. "I feel like you should definitely enroll in some art classes over the summer." Pam just looked at him. "Come on, the crews won't be here, plus I'll be taking some classes as well... I've been thinking about getting back into marketing like I went to school for, I wanted to take some supplementary classes at the local community college. It'll be fun." Pam mulled it over, picking at her dinner as she pondered it.

"I don't know. It's kind of expensive..." She trailed off. Jim knocked his shoulder into hers. "Plus, I don't even know if I'm that talented..."

"Beesly, come on!" He rolled his eyes. "Think about it." He pointed his fork to her. She sighed, giving in.

"Okay, okay, I'll think about it." She popped another meatball in her mouth.

"Great because I already got you some pamphlets and printed off some classes I thought you'd like." He grinned cheekily at her unimpressed look. Score one for Jim.


	7. Dundies

Summer passed quickly for Jim and Pam, wrapped up in the shenanigans of the office crew and both going to school at night, Jim for marketing and Pam for art, they barely had time to make dinner and fall asleep let alone think of anything else.

They unwound and most of the time Pam utilized her time on the weekends creating meals in advance for them to eat when they got home from their three-hour classes after work. They usually ate a larger lunch later in the day, much to their co-worker's confusion. They heard whispers behind their backs but no one said anything to their faces about their sudden change in lunchtimes. Jim was too exhausted to think of creative pranks for Jim due to the amount of schoolwork he had to do so when filming started up again, he would start to think of some to make up for all that they missed.

The weekends were the time where Pam and Jim could unwind the most. They ended up spending a lot of time in the hot tub even thought it was summer. Just chatting and then spending a lot of time working on papers in Jim's case and art, in Pam's case. It wasn't to say that the sexual tension between them wasn't mounting. It definitely was. Jim was coming out of the shower and Pam bumped into him as she was headed to her room, distracted. Her eyes shot up to his well-defined chest bare with just a towel covering the lower part of his body and her eyes ran over his bared body. Jim internally smirked at the blatant checking out she was doing of him. Soon, Pam snapped out of it, unfortunately and blushed but Jim saw the desire in her eyes before she schooled it. But it wasn't the right moment. Jim wanted anything that would happen to happen because Pam initiated it. He didn't want to be a rebound for her so the ball was in her court.

On the school front, Pam took Jim's advice and took the art classes he thought would most interest her. She ended up taking two classes, the same as Jim. She took Drawing I and Painting I. She flourished in both. She was into her degree in Art History and Fine Arts when Roy pushed her to get a part time job to help pay for her schooling which turned into her leaving school in her sophomore year and being at Dunder Mifflin full-time. She regretted not pushing harder, eliminating those who doubted her but at this point in her life she was more suited for being serious about Art. She was seriously debating going back to school. What future did she have at Dunder Mifflin? How much higher could a receptionist go? It's not like she could ever see herself as a regional manager like Michael. She did learn a lot of business skills in the years she worked for Dunder Mifflin. She wasn't positive on what she was going to do yet but she kept the thoughts in her head for now. She didn't even reveal those thoughts to Jim.

Jim took a couple classes at the community college as well. He took a refresher course in marketing and tried his hand at Sport's Journalism. He always imagined being a sport's column writer or something to do with sports seeing as he liked it so much. But he had graduated with a degree in marketing and he struck out finding a job that had to do with sports and he just kind of settled into Dunder Mifflin. He was able to save some money and thought about moving to Philadelphia one day, the sports were more centralized there. Maybe he would decide what he was going to do but, in the meantime, he didn't say anything to Pam. He liked the status quo.

The documentary crews were back and in place and with it, the microphone packs. Pam thought they were the most annoying thing aside from the cameras catching their every movement at work, instead they had these bulky microphone packs that dug into her back. The chairs sucked which didn't help. Michael promised her a new chair eons ago but she wasn't surprised he didn't come through on that promise. The pack bit into her skin and made her uncomfortable. She was kind of afraid what she would look like on the camera probably grumpy. She didn't want to look, if she was completely honest. She looked around the office at the men. She privately conversed with the women of the office and they agreed with her.

"The mics bite our skin!" Angela protested to the camera. "Pam actually brought it up and usually I don't like to agree with her, but yes, the microphones hurt."

"I mean, I wouldn't have said anything if Pam didn't..." Phyllis trailed off. "But sometimes it pinches..."

"I don't know what everyone's on their rag about!" Meredith proclaimed. "I like a little pain, if you know what I mean..." She winked at the camera.

"I mean... If I have to be honest..." Kelly started. "It is kind of annoying. But!" She held up a finger. "I decorated mine. I got pink stickers and spelled out Kelly!" She crossed her arms. "If something is causing me discomfort, I want it to be because the super itchy stickers I embellished it with."

"Yeah, I brought up the mics with the other women in the office." Pam stared at the camera. "Men have it so easy with their dress pants they can wear. Why is it always the women who have to be uncomfortable, huh?" Pam crossed her arms and stared down the camera. The cameraman shrugged his shoulders from behind the camera. She rolled her eyes with good humor.

Jim was leaning on the reception desk, talking to Pam on the day of the Dundies.

"So, are you ready for the Dundies?" Jim smirked as Pam put her eyes skyward.

"Ugh." She grumbled as Jim snickered around a jelly bean that he grabbed. Michael came through the door.

"Fat Halpert!" He crowed. Jim and Pam exchanged a look.

"Um, what?" He looked at Michael. Michael made a nevermind motion.

"So, you excited about the Dundies, tonight? I'm excited!" Michael chattered happily.

"Overjoyed..." Pam intoned. But Michael didn't pay any attention to her, focusing on Jim.

"Where are your Dundies, do you have them with you?" Michael asked eagerly. Jim looked at Pam in a panic, knowing that they're in a junk box in their basement. He didn't have any secret warming sensations when he thought of things as theirs, nope. Pam shook her head. Don't do it, she thought.

"Uh... They're hidden away." Michael raised a brown.

"Hidden? They should be proudly displayed." Jim looked concerned at Pam. Pam facepalmed.

"Um, yeah. So I don't get cocky." Michael nodded as if that was sage advice.

"Smart." He commented, moving on to ask Stanley about him before getting interrupted by Dwight.

"Mine are above my bed, Michael."

"TMI. Ew. Nobody wants to know that." Jim turned to Pam and they air high-fived and she wiped an imaginary sweat drop from her forehead. She grinned.

"Pamela..." He dragged out her full name for way too long after he came out of his office in a huff after discovering that Stanley threw away his Dundies. Pam sighed before closing her game of Spider Solitaire.

"Yes, Michael?" She sighed.

"I need you to head into the conference room and watch all the Dundies award shows and give me highlights." He turned away expecting this to be completed.

"Michael, I really think there are better uses of my time." Michael spun around and pursed his lips.

"I disagree. Nothing is more important than the Dundies." Pam stared at him. "I expect you in that conference room, Pam." Pam sighed loudly before heading to the conference room to find the TV on and a stack of VHS's on the table. She sighed as the camera crews started taping her reviewing the Dundies awards. She really thought they could be doing something much better with their time than this.

"You know when you see a bad wreck, but you can't look away? The Dundies are like that. Except you can't look away, not because you don't want to, but because your boss is making you." She told the camera. "I'm three hours in and I want this torture to be over." She made eye contact with Jim and mouthed 'Oh my god.' with a movement of choking and Jim smirked broadly at her before turning away to play Solitaire. She fumed in jealousy.

She turned back to the Dundies footage she was watching and she watched her and Jim sit back to back, sitting with other people. She was sitting with Roy and Jim was sitting with someone else. She watched as she received the longest engagement award a couple times in a row and before that it was the longest time without a ring award. She remembered how Jim looked at her when she received that award. She remembered vividly the humiliation she felt, which worsened as Roy crowed out 'We'll see you next year!'

Well, they wouldn't. Roy wasn't a bad guy but he wasn't for her. That was clear. She just cringed at how long she spent unhappy with him. They were affectionate but she couldn't see children with him. She couldn't see them being in domestic bliss with each other. Pam continued to jot down creative awards so she could be done with this assignment.

She kept her eyes on Jim the entire time throughout the whole tapes and she realized something. Her eyes darted up to Jim, who had her back to him. How could she not have realized it before? She was such an idiot! She carefully watched every look Jim gave to Pam when he thought she wasn't looking. But the looks that shook her were the looks of longing. The looks of jealousy when Roy kissed her. She looked on in shock.

Jim Halpert was in love with her.

She couldn't believe she didn't see it before! All the flirting, the jellybean addiction, the everything! It all came together. She should have been in denial. No way could Jim like me! But those looks that were caught by the camera when he thought no one was paying attention, those couldn't be faked. He loved her when she was with someone else. He probably quietly thought he was a better fit for her than Roy was but never vocalized it because he was trying to be her friend. She thought he thought she was off limits before and they got a house together as friends but maybe he was trying to ease her into being more than friends with her. They had been living together for several months and she definitely noticed when his eyes darkened in arousal around her when she was doing the most mundane things that she didn't find sexy or sensual at all.

Pam was finding herself. She had personal goals, she had dreams that she had found again due to Jim encouraging her to take art classes. She had her independence. After being with Roy for so long, was she ready for another relationship? She had to think about it. What if someone else came along and started dating Jim, what if a pretty blonde or brunette started dating him and coming over to their house and making out in their hot tub and necking on the couch... The thought made her blood boil. Jealousy furled in her gut. What if Jim was the guy? The guy that you read about in romance novels? The "soul-mate." She didn't really believe in soul-mates but what if she found her partner-in-crime? The one she chose to spend time with, to create a life with, to create a family and a future with? Could he be that person? Pam thought on everything she knew about Jim. He most certainly could. The fire was strong between them, the chemistry was there, the affection was there. She just needed to make a move.

He clearly thought the ball was in his court. Well, game on, Halpert. Game on. She stared at the back of his head, unbeknownst to him only to get up when Michael called him into his office.

"So, what's up, Michael?" Jim sat across from him.

"So, let me run this by you... Pam's award Heartbreaker Award for breaking Roy's heart!" Michael crowed. Jim frowned.

"That may not be the best one to give her."

"Why not? It's funny!"

"Pam might get a little hurt by that." Michael scoffed.

"She's such a stick in the mud."

"And..." Jim tried to think of a solution where Michael would be tricked into being nice to Pam. "You run the risk of being called unoriginal. They would say, 'Michael Scott is losing his touch.' Do you want to be that guy?" Michael's easy grin started falling from his face and by the end of the conversation, he shook his head.

"No, no, I want to be original. I'll think of something." Michael looked off in the distance as he thought about it. "Thanks." He said clearly dismissing Jim. Jim walked out of Michael's office and sat at his desk, looking up to see Pam watching him critically. Jim shrugged but Pam didn't drop her look. It was unnerving him to be honest.

"Yes?" He dragged out the last letter. Dwight looked up from his paper and watched the two of them. Pam looked down but didn't say anything. Jim and Dwight exchanged looks.

That was weird.

Jim didn't ask Pam what the look was about when they were in the car together. They both had a lot on their minds. Jim was insatiably curious about what Michael came up with as they headed to Chili's for the Dundies. Pam kept thinking about the ground breaking revelation she discovered. How long did he like her? Was it like at first sight? How could she not have realized it? Even though she was dating Roy previously, all too often her thoughts would drift to Jim and wonder what he was doing. She tried not to think about if he was with anyone. She didn't want that image in her head. She now realized looking back it was jealousy. She was jealous of other girls that got to see Jim in other ways than she would. But now she did get to see him in other ways. She got to see him in more intimate ways. She got to see him as he woke up and padded softly into the kitchen, sleepily saying good morning in that gravelly sexy voice of his. She got to see him as he did homework over the summer and scrunched up his forehead in concentration. She got to see him coming back from a run, sweating profusely.

But she wanted more. She wanted so much more.

Then it clicked for her. She was falling in love with Jim. Goofy, best friend Jim who she would have never thought had a sexy side but now that she saw his goofy, sexy side, she didn't know how she didn't see it before. She thought everything he did was sexy. Sure, she flirted with him a lot. Maybe teased him a bit but he gave it as good as he got. It turned her on. She loved goofing around and kidding around with him and dreaded every time he went out without her, thinking he was with someone else. She didn't ask who he was meeting, it wasn't her business. Maybe she just needed to get laid.

But she knew better. There was only one person she wanted to get laid with and he was sitting right next to her. The only thing that held her back was the thought that maybe she was so gross, so unhygienic (she didn't think she was) that maybe Jim didn't want her anymore. But how could she find out? Kissing is a good option. That is usually a good indicator if they kiss you back.

But was she brave enough to just lean up and kiss him like she thought about loads of times? She doubted it.

But something she could use was liquid courage.

Michael was singing and rapping and causing a general embarrassment of himself. Pam didn't usually drink but sometimes she did get a little tipsy. She needed a few margaritas to get through these Dundies.

Jim and Pam were talking quietly through Michael's shenanigans as Phyllis, Angela and even Ryan were awarded Dundies. Soon, Pam was called up to receive the "Whitest Sneakers Awards" as Jim deadpanned to the camera. This is what he called creative?

Pam went on to give a long-winded speech that she quite frankly didn't remember. Jim helped her sit back down in the chair as she was a little wobbly. Pam continued to drink the rest of her drink, even going back to drink once the ice melted.

"I think it's empty, Beesly..." Jim joked.

"No...no...Because it melts and it becomes second drink!" She crows victoriously. Jim snickered into the remainder of his beer. He got up to go to the bar for a second one and she followed him there like a puppy. He leaned against the bar and Pam looked at him, eyes unfaltering.

"I don't know, Beesly. I think I like Drunk Pam." He teased. She stared, fixated on his face. "What?" She smirked drunkedly.

"What?" She whispered, teetering on her feet, about to fall when Jim grasped her arm. She looked deep in his eyes and Jim thought, for a second, she was going to kiss him when the bartender gave him his beer. He thought she looked disappointed for a second. The looks they exchanged as she got another margarita in her until the event was wrapping up. Jim smirked down at the laughing Pam, wrapping an arm around her waist. It was just to help her up, not because some guys were eyeing her up. Purely for the first reason... Pam made eye contact with him and something in her strengthened and she leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She leaned back, feeling her wasn't kissing her back.

"Are you doing this because you're drunk?" He whispered, as all the Dunder Mifflin employees went silent at the sudden kiss. She shook her head.

"I've been trying to summon the courage all night." She whispered back. Jim wrapped his hands around her face and kissed her deeply, easily lifting her and swinging her around as she broke from the kiss, laughing.

"I can't believe they were so all over each other," Angela huffed. "So vulgar."

"Oh, I hope they're together now..." Phyllis cooed.

"Why didn't Jim tell me he was into Pam?" Michael pouted. "I could have hooked them up!"

Jim leaned Pam against the wall outside Chili's as their kissing intensified, months' worth of sexual tension being brought to the surface. Her small moans were being swallowed and Pam had her hands under Jim's shirt, feeling the abdominal muscles flex with each movement. He had his hands on either side of her head. He pulled back with a gasp as he trailed kisses down her neck and she tilted her head back even more.

"God, you're gorgeous." He muttered against her skin. He couldn't get enough of her smell. She huffed out puffs of hot air against the cold air of the night.

"You're one to talk. You've been driving me crazy for months." She shivered when he hit a sensitive spot. He leaned back and grabbed her hand from under his shirt and kissed her fingers. Then he smirked devilishly.

"I know, I can hear you moan out my name when you think I'm sleeping." Pam's face turned red and she socked him in the shoulder. "Ow!" He protested. It didn't really hurt but he didn't want her to think it didn't and try again.

"You deserved it!" She cried, horribly embarrassed. He couldn't help but kiss her deeply again, the faux argument already forgotten as she gripped his forearms through the kiss. He pulled back as her eyes became less glazed over. She looked a lot less drunk.

"Let's get you home, Beesly." He guided her to the car, but she laced their fingers together and he squeezed them affectionately.

"Our home." She murmured, leaning into Jim's weight.

"Yes, Pam." He smiled. "Our home." He kissed her forehead. "You're going to hate yourself in the morning. But we are going to have a long talk about this."

"Why can't we make out more? I like making out. With you." He grinned as he unlocked the door.

"Oh, we'll definitely do more of that." Jim promised.

"Okay, good." She settled in her seat and they headed to their house.


	8. Dating

Pam blearily opened her eyes the next morning and immediately wished she hadn't. Oh god, how many margaritas did she have last night? She looked to her nightstand and saw some aspirin and a glass of water. She held her head as she sat up in bed, swallowing the aspirin and drinking the water down.

Her eyes drifted shut as she drowsily tried to remember something from last night, anything. Her eyes popped open. She kissed Jim! Oh my god. She kissed Jim! Boy, was he a good kisser. Her eyes drifted close in pleasure as she remembered how he pressed her against the brick wall of the restaurant and made out with her. She would like to do that again. How the haze of being drunk lifted from her mind and she was able to feel his abs contract as he moved as he kissed her passionately. They had a lot of time to make up for. But maybe he just wanted to kiss her because he was a little tipsy. But he just had a couple of beers, right? He couldn't have been that wasted. She was pretty sure he drove them home. Like 99% sure.

She was still contemplating how she got in her bedroom when the door opened and Jim walked in, an easy smile as always in place. She smiled back cautiously.

"Hi." She murmured, taking another sip of water.

"How you doing, lightweight?" He snickered at her slight glare.

"I just had one too many margaritas, Jim." She snarked.

"Yeah, yeah... How's your head?" Pam looked up at him blinking at the overwhelming sunshine behind his head from the living room. She had blackout curtains in her room so she wouldn't be woken up prematurely on the weekends.

"Hurts. The aspirin is helping. Did you do that?" Pam queried, sinking into her pillows a bit.

"Guilty. Come on and get up, Beesly, I'm making greasy breakfast. Everyone knows that is the best way to get rid of a hangover." He put a hand for her to grab to help her up. She placed her glass on her bedside table and pushed the comforter off her and saw that she was still wearing her clothes from last night minus her shoes.

"Did you put me in my bed last night?" Pam asked as Jim laced their fingers together, her heart squeezed tightly in happiness.

"I gotta take care of you, Beesly. Besides, I was tempted to put you in my bed, but I am trying to be good." He smirked at her blush and her slight stumble. Good, he thought. She can trip over her feet instead of him. She sat at the breakfast bar as Jim moved around some sausages and bacon as he spooned some scrambled eggs on a plate. She sighed at the smells. It smelled so good. She started inhaling the food as soon as it sat in front of her.

Jim smiled softly and watched her eat as he helped himself to some sausages.

"So, Beesly. Want to tell me what last night was about?" Pam paused with a piece of bacon in her hands.

"Um...what about it?" Pam asked, looking sheepish.

"The kiss, Beesly." Pam gulped audibly. She put down the bacon.

"Did you not like it?" She asked in a small voice.

"No, Pam..." He reached across the counter to touch her hand. "I loved it, just seemed to come out of nowhere. You said you were trying to get the courage up last night." Pam nodded, feeling the weight get out of her stomach as her stomach dropped when she heard him say no.

"Yeah, I was trying to get up the courage to see if you liked me back and I thought if you kissed me back, it would be a pretty good indicator." Pam took a bite of toast. "But I wasn't anticipating the amount of liquid courage I would need to take that leap, I guess." She shrugged.

"Pam, I obviously like you." Jim squeezed her hand that he still had his fingers on.

"Well, I know that now." She intoned the last word. "But you're hard to read with your casual attitude about everything. I've definitely felt some tension between us but it was hard to tell if you liked me or were just kidding around." Until I saw the Dundies tapes, she thought to herself. Those were what made her make a move. Jim nodded.

"Fair enough. I can be hard to read sometimes. But any guy would be lucky to have you pay attention to them." Jim said sincerely.

"So, you wouldn't mind if I went and made out with Toby?" She teased. She was only joking but Jim was a little more serious about his response.

"Oh, no, Beesly. Now that I've got you, I'm not letting you go. You're a catch." He said darkly, coming around the counter. Pam didn't take her eyes off of him. He stood in front of her, his eyes roaming around her face before swooping in and stealing her lips, her arms automatically going around his neck as he sensually stole her mouth with no regrets from her. He pulled back after a minute. "I'm not letting Toby anywhere near you." He murmured into her lips after releasing her. She slightly whimpered at the sudden arousal she felt before controlling it before she gave into it. She would give in to the feelings eventually, but not now.

Jim saw her eyes darken and she quickly pulled herself together but not before Jim saw the arousal. Interesting...

"Pam, will you go on a date with me?" Jim asked, looking in her eyes. She beamed at him.

"Of course, I will!" Pam replied happily, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. He lifted her and spun her around in a circle, loving her laugh happily the entire time.

"I saw them kissing against the restaurant last night. It was so sweet." Phyllis cooed happily.

"They were being absolutely profane." Angela scowled at the camera. "I hope they like heat because where they're going, it'll come in spades."

"It was so hot... Like so hot..." Kevin trailed off, smirking at the camera.

"It was completely unprofessional." Toby sighed sadly. Then he perked up. "Maybe she was drunk and he took advantage." He frowned again. "But they did sign the forms and it was off company property so I can't reprimand them. This time..."

"I think they can both do better." Dwight sneered before flipping open his phone.

"Those crazy kids getting it on makes me wish I was a fly on that wall..." Meredith grinned at the camera.

"I do not care..." Stanley intoned before turning his attention back to the crossword puzzle.

"I missed it, what happened?" Creed questioned, looking around the room.

"I wish I had someone to kiss me like that..." Kelly trailed off sadly before starting another topic of conversation that unfortunately got edited out.

"I guess Pam's out." Ryan sighed, as he crosssed a name of a list on a pad of paper.

"What's that? What happened at the restaurant?" Jim repeats the question to the camera. He smiled softly. "Oh, nothing... Nothing at all." He smiles sunnily at the producers, who give him the stink eye. They catch each other's eyes and nod to Pam. She's the easier one to force to fold.

"Oh, I was so drunk, I don't even remember what happened, honestly!" Pam blushed believably. "Did you guys catch any of it?" She leaned forward to ask the person behind the camera.

"We couldn't get the restaurant's approval to film on their property." Griped the producer.

"Oh, that's too bad then. I guess we'll never know then, huh." She stared down the camera. Well, so much for that theory of making Pam fold.

"Oscar..." Kevin leaned forward to talk to his office mate in the breakroom.

"What, Kevin?"

"So, I went to the movies last night and I saw Jim and Pam go and see Dukes of Hazzard. Together..." He drew out the last word.

"That's inconclusive. They could be going as friends." Oscar replied, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"But they were holding hands and laughing together and it looked very lovey dovey." Oscar lifted his eyes to Kevin, calculating. "I'm telling you; they're dating."

"The hand holding is damning but I'll reserve judgement for their announcement." Oscar took a sip of his drink and finished his lunch as Kevin sighed.

"What announcement?" Kelly asked as she sat at another table. Kevin's eyes lit up. Kelly was the gossip queen, if anyone would believe him, it would be Kelly.

"I saw Jim and Pam at the movies together last night. They were holding hands. Oscar doesn't believe they're dating." Kelly immediately sat closer to Kevin.

"Tell me everything." She implored as she took out her lunch. Kevin smiled toothily at her.

"So like Jim and Pam are totally hooking up." Kelly cheerfully told the camera. "We have an eye witness that places the two of them together at the movies, while holding hands."

"Who's the eye witness?" A producer asked.

"It's confidential." Kelly chirped.

Jim leaned against the reception desk and told her quietly.

"I had a really nice time last night. Maybe dinner tonight? I'll make reservations." Pam smiled sweetly.

"I'd love that." She almost leaned in to kiss him but remembered they were at work so she stopped herself.

Later on that morning, Pam realized that Jim put his sandwich in her lunch bag and her salad was missing. She went over to his desk and put his sandwich on his desk while he was on a sales call and then she, without thinking, kissed his cheek, freezing as she did so. Dwight's eyes widened, Phyllis cooed, Angela scoffed offended.

"Are you guys together, now?" Phyllis couldn't help herself from asking. Jim hung up his phone and looked at Pam, who looked at Jim.

"Yes. Yes, we are." Pam replied happily, Jim smiled at Pam's response. He grabbed her hand and ran his finger over the back of her hand reassuringly.

Jim held out his hand to help Pam out of his car at the restaurant that he made a reservation at. He loved the feeling of her warm hand in his. He laced their fingers together as they walked into the restaurant, warmth flooding his whole being. She squeezed his fingers as they walked in quiet silence to the door. He held open the door for her and she gave him a soft smile. He spoke to the hostess and they were guided to their seats quickly. They ordered some white wine and put in their meal requests, just enjoying each other's company.

It was really easy to fall into dating each other as well as living with each other. They both found the additional layer of their relationship seamlessly folding in with the others to make their bond even tighter. Jim knew he loved her but he was falling more in love with the other things he was finding out due to dating her and getting to know her more intimately.

"So, Beesly. What made you make your move on the Dundies night?" He asked as he took a sip of wine.

Pam thought carefully about her answer. She didn't want to embarrass him by saying she saw that he was in love with her if he wasn't ready to tell her yet. She was pretty sure she was in love with him too but didn't know if it was the right time to declare it yet.

"I've had feelings for you for a while, Jim, and I just felt that I was ready to pursue those feelings more while not making you feel that it was a rebound, because it wasn't."

"Well, I like you a lot, Pam and I am really happy in the direction that this is going." Jim told her sincerely, reaching across to touch her hand. She smiled at him sweetly as she tilted her head.

"I really like you too, Jim." I love you, the thought came unbidden to her mind. It wasn't the right time to say that yet, not on their first dinner date. "Don't think you don't know how sexy you are." She tried to turn the serious conversation into more lighthearted territory.

"Oh, really?" He leaned his face into his hands. "Tell me more." Pam smirked around a gulp of wine.

"Well, you have really sexy hands, for one. I can hardly stop myself from looking at them all day." He looked at his hands and then back at Pam.

"Wow, Beesly, never knew you had such a fetish for my hands." He teased.

"Mm." She murmured, looking at them again. She could feel them against her back as he kissed her, framing her face, next to her head as he possessively kissed her against the brick wall the other night. She cleared her throat and make eye contact with Jim again, mentally shaking herself from her thoughts. Jim smirked at her, thoroughly enjoying this. It wasn't every day the girl of his dreams told him what she found sexy about him.

"I also like your arms."

"I'm rather attached to them."

"And I love the color of your eyes." Pam finished. Jim smiled at her easily.

"Well, Pam, I love your eyes and your curly hair and the way your skin feels under my fingers." He warmed at the way Pam blushed lightly. The rest of the dinner passed with light-hearted topics and a goodnight kiss at Pam's bedroom door. It was a perfect first date.

And of course, Pam told her sister all about it on the phone, bursting at the seams. It was tacky to compare boyfriends but Jim was leagues above Roy.


	9. Booze Cruise

Three months passed quickly. Jim and Pam went on numerous dates and things were progressing nicely for them in their relationship.

"Jim!" Pam cried.

Jim smirked at her and ran outside before she had time to change. It was January but that did not stop them from utilizing the hot tub.

He always did this! She huffed as she changed into her swimsuit quickly and grabbed a warm towel to sneak outside into the steaming water. She quickly snuck in, loving the surrounding warmth.

Jim smirked at her as she piled all her curls on top of her head, although he was momentarily distracted by a curl dangling around her face.

"I really should punish you, Halpert?" She murmured thickly, arousal thickening her tone. Jim gulped at the change in her tone and how she was looking at him through her lashes.

"No, you shouldn't." He really didn't want to be punished. Pam smirked sexily, knowing exactly what she was doing to him. She moved closer to him, the warm water and wine from earlier doing things to her confidence. His eyes darkened as she moved ever closer to him.

She straddled his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck as she placed her weight on him, feeling him press against her in the most intimate places. His hands ran from her knees to her bottom, which he squeezed lightly before travelling up to her back, his wide hands spanning her back under the rippling warm water.

She was so sexy as she stared him down, straddling his lap. Even his fantasies didn't come close to the real-life sexual attraction they had between them. He was glad they took as long as they did to get to this point as they wouldn't have this sexual tension to relieve. And he so looked forward to relieving it and soon.

She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "So, I shouldn't get out of this hot tub, right now, as punishment, Jim..." She breathed out his name as she bit his earlobe lightly. She wanted a reaction. She wanted a reaction. He chanted as he tried not to react to her teasing. But it was futile, he was only so strong after all. She leaned back to rise out of the tub when she gained footing only to feel a strong hand grab ahold of her bun on top of her head, quicker than lightning, and drag her face to his.

Her eyes widened. Maybe she went too far. The dark look in his eyes made her gulp in anticipation. She loved these charged scenes. Maybe it was wishful thinking but she wished they never quit feeling these feelings for each other. Jim leaned forward, so they were only an inch or two away from each other. Pam couldn't look away, she gulped at the look on his face.

"Not so fast, Beesly. You've been teasing me." He broke eye contact with her eyes and looked at her mouth, before looking back at her and smirked internally at the effect he was having on her. He rolled his hips into her and smirked at the little moan she couldn't quite hold in. He knew she brought herself to orgasm when she thought he was asleep but unfortunately for Pam, the rooms weren't sound proof and Pam wasn't exactly quiet. He heard his name more than once. And as nice as that made him feel, he wanted to be the reason for those sounds to fall from her lips.

He couldn't control himself anymore and surged forward, possessing her mouth fiercely. She whimpered into his mouth as she placed her hands on his chest, giving herself into the kiss. She kissed back ferociously, her body heating up that had little to do with the water anymore. She could feel the slight stubble on his face and damned, if that didn't turn her on even more.

"Let's go inside." He murmured into her lips and she stood easily, the water dripping down her body, his eyes following the water as she wrapped herself in a towel. She waited for him and they went into Jim's bedroom together and didn't come out for a while.

Jim arrived on the boat a little earlier than Pam, due to her having to baby Michael. Soon, she arrived and went to the bar to get him a beer and her a drink as well. Soon, a blonde woman that Jim vaguely recalled as being the purse lady, he wasn't paying much attention to her at the time.

"Hey..." She demurred, fluttering her eyelashes, making him think she had something in her eye. Jim immediately felt uncomfortable.

"Hi...um, Kathy?" He tried to place more space between them but Katy wasn't getting the memo.

"Katy. So handsome, are you here alone?" Katy looked around as she asked, looking for girls that could sink this handsome piece of meat.

"He's not." Katy spun around to see Pam with two beers in her hands and raising an eyebrow at her.

"Oh." Katy smiled sweetly as she moved on.

Pam handed his beer to Jim and took a pull of hers, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, sorry if this is super weird but that was really hot." Jim confessed, taking a drink of his beer.

Pam laughed.

"C'mon, butthead, let's go on the deck." She pulled him to the door as she grabbed their coats.

"Isn't it super cold out there?" Jim couldn't help but ask.

"I'm sure we could find a way to stay warm." She purred, looking at him through her lashes. He didn't protest anymore, following her out to the deck.

Michael looked around all the people that were inside and he didn't see Jim or Pam. That was weird. They were usually in the thick of things, laughing and possibly pranking Dwight.

He made his way to the deck, breathing in the cold air, it helping to clear his head of the alcohol he consumed tonight.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jim pressing Pam into the side of the ship, mouths unbreaking. His hands framing her face. He waited a couple minutes to see if they would notice but other than breaking for air, they were too involved in each other.

He laughed under his breath as he went in. Those crazy kids.


	10. Casino Night

Jim looks at Pam laughing happily at something Michael said on their Casino Night as he stands next to Carol, Jan looking on jealously in the background. Months passed quickly with Pam. He kept falling more and more in love with her as the more intimately he got to know her. He loved knowing that he was the person she came home to. That he was the one that she loved with her body if not her heart yet. To be fair, he hadn't said I love you either.

She looked over her shoulder at him, beautiful blue dress flowing around her, her hair curled down her back. She smiled serenely at him, completely at peace with their life. She walked over to Jim.

"Wanna go outside?" Jim nodded. They stepped outside. Pam surged up and kissed him, her hands framing her face and his hands wrapped around her waist, his hands spanning her skin. He pulled back and looked down at her.

"I'm in love with you." He murmured.

Well, that wasn't how or when he wanted to say it but he was glad he did. Her eyes shone wetly at him. He was glad he didn't say it in a moment of ecstasy or anything so cliché.

"I love you so much, Jim." She whispered, her throat closing with the emotion that overcame her. He leaned down to kiss her again, her arms wrapping around his neck.


	11. Pre-Merger

Pam is understandably panicking.

It's been roughly six months since Pam and Jim have said I love you to each other during the Casino Night and she couldn't be happier. They fight sometimes, yes but she believes more and more that she made the right decision choosing Jim. He's the perfect guy for her. So kind and compassionate and caring. He goes above and beyond for her. No one has ever gone out and got pain medication for her during her period or holding her hand through an emergency hospital visit where she was in intense pain which turned out to be gall stones. That was definitely scary.

How he runs a bath for her when he knows Michael's made it difficult for her. He makes her laugh like no tomorrow and she couldn't see her life without him. Her at her easel at night, painting and sketching and him watching a basketball game. She didn't want to imagine her life where he left. She tries not to think about if he broke up with her. She tries to make him the happiest she can so he wouldn't get swayed by other pretty girls.

She thinks they have a pretty good thing going on.

But this Scranton closing thing, it's making her nervous. Scared actually.

Jim finds her crying in what is her old bedroom. She's been sleeping in Jim's bed.

She looks up as he comes in. She wipes at her face. She was hoping he wouldn't find her; a new basketball game is on.

"Pam?" He sat next to her against the wall and drew her against him, her head resting on his chest, her cuddling into him affectionately. "What's wrong?" He pecked her head, rubbing her shoulder.

"I don't know what to do if Dunder Mifflin closes. Who would want a stupid secretary from a paper company?" She finishes her sentence and starts sobbing again.

She pulls away and buries her face in her hands and starts crying in earnest.

"Hey, hey..." Jim pulls her hands away from her face. He wipes away the tears. "Pam, honey, nothing's set in stone yet. Something could change." He tells her, looking into her eyes.

"I can't help it... I'm so scared." He pulls her into his lap and wraps his arms around her, her head coming naturally into his neck.

"I know, darling. But let's stop worrying about it until it happens. We have some savings until we find other jobs. Maybe it could be a fresh start." She sniffs. He shuffles her and lifts her up with him, startling her and grabbing onto his shoulder. He heads out to the living room and sets her on the couch and flicking on the dvd player and putting in Legally Blonde and getting some wine for her.

"What about the game?" She looks up at him with big eyes.

"This is more important." He cuddles next to her and lets her lean on him for the duration of admittedly not his favorite movie, but Pam likes it and that's enough for him.


	12. Merger

The news breaks pretty quickly through the grapevine AKA Michael's big fat mouth, that the Stamford, Connecticut branch is the one that is closing not Scranton and Pam sags with relief. She may not care that much about her job but she was way too comfortable with how her life was at this moment to deal with the added stress of finding a new job.

Jim looks at her as Michael crows this announcement, knowing how upset she was the other night. But now Jim was a little concerned, they would be absorbing their business and be sharing the load with some of the old sales people at Stamford.

Jan walked through the door and saw Michael crowing and gave him a disapproving look.

"Jim, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jan queries. Jim rose, feeling a bit nervous but tried not to read too much into the what if scenarios. She motioned to Michael's office and he sank into a chair. "As I'm sure Michael has made you aware, Stamford is closing." Jim nodded. Jan levelled a glare at Michael. "Due to the increased load that Michael will be facing, corporate has decided to promote you to assistant regional manager, with emphasis on sales. Your numbers and consistency are very good, as are Dwight's but you are generally more of a people person. This will come with a pay raise if you accept." Jim was speechless.

"I would like that very much. I'm just...this is a shock." Jan chuckled mirthlessly.

"I have been thrown through quite a loop. Josh leaving so abruptly has put a speediness to this change, although we have definitely wanted to promote you as much as Michael was digging in his heels about it..." Jim looked at Michael who hadn't said anything, to his surprise. Michael looked surprisingly serious for once.

"Jan, I told you I didn't want to lose him." Michael complained lighthearted in his tone, but his eyes were calculating. Jan sighed.

"I know, Michael. But you're about to be really busy. You're going to need a bit more help." He sighed.

"Fine." Michael put on a smile. "Welcome to the big leagues Jimmy!" Jim smiled at Michael.

"Now, I wanted to talk to you about a couple sales people that I have particularly high hopes for." Jan opened a file folder and pulled out two pictures. She laid them on the desk. "I have employed both of these people for quite some time. The female is Karen Filipelli. She is a very responsible saleswoman; we are hoping to have her groomed for her own branch one day. The male is Andrew Bernard – he's a bit of wild card, I'll admit but he can be very good at sales and I think he would be a good person to have on the sales staff." She went on to discuss other staff members but she seemed to have high hopes for those two in particular.

Jim left Michael's office feeling much better and smiled reassuringly at Pam who sighed in relief.

"Everyone!" Michael chirped. "Corporate has decided to promote Jim to Assistant Regional Manager due to the influx of new customers and new sales people entering out midst. Tomorrow we will greet the new members of our family and become a little bigger. We look forward to this transition to being seamless. Thank you." He returned to his office, knowing Dwight would be up in arms about being passed over for the promotion.

Dwight was indeed frothing at the mouth at being passed over for the assistant position but decided to bide his time and wait for the optimal time to bury Jim Halpert.

The next day, a few new faces came through the door. A pretty brunette woman walked in next to a preppy man around the same age as her.

"Hi!" Pam chirped.

"Hi." Karen looked nervously around the room. "I'm Karen Filipelli from the Stamford branch and this is Andrew – Andy Bernard." Pam smiled at both of them.

"Welcome. We're glad to have you. Jim is the new Assistant Manager, so I'm sure he could help you." Jim smiled at them as he shook their hands, introducing himself. He soon helped them find their new desks to get settled in.

"So, I'm sorry to torture you so soon after getting here, but Michael has prepared a getting to know Scranton video but after we will go out to lunch so we can get to know each other and I can warn you about some people." He told them conspiratorially.

They were indeed tortured by the Scranton video with Dwight and Michael rapping and one of their staff already quit. Karen felt a twinge of jealousy, wanting to leave as well but Michael seems like a nice guy, a bit weird, kind of like a class clown but she didn't get a creepy vibe from him. Jim seemed very nice and professional and everyone she met, seemed to like her except Phyllis.

"So, how is everything going?" Pam asked Karen as she ducked into the fridge to get a yogurt.

"Good." Karen replied, honestly. "Except, I didn't know Phyllis' fiance, Bob Glance?"

Pam laughed.

"Bob Vance, yeah. Sorry about that. He's a well-known person to anyone in Scranton. He owns Vance Refrigeration; we share the building with them. It was quite the talk of the town when Bob started dating Phyllis. He seemed to be quite the bachelor, but they are a good couple."

Karen nodded.

"That makes more sense why she was so offended then." Karen laughed good-naturedly.

"And don't take anything Angela says personally, she's very strict in her views. Dwight's kind of crazy, take it with a grain of salt. And I'm pretty sure anything Creed says isn't true, so don't believe him." Karen laughed, spooning in some sugar to her freshly brewed coffee mug.

"Thank you for the head's up." Karen trailed off as she didn't remember Pam's name, she had met so many people, it was hard to keep track.

"My name's Pam." Pam supplied helpfully.

"Oh god, thank you. I'm really bad with names and I met so many people today, it's hard to keep up." Pam smiled.

"No worries. I know the feeling." Pam grabbed a spoon from the drawer and closed it with a bump of her hip. "If you need anything, let me know." She told Karen as she left the break room.

"Thank you, Pam."

"So, any questions?" Jim asked after he ran through their procedures. Every branch different a little bit in their structure of the sales department.

"Can I ask questions of a personal nature?" Andy asked. Karen rolled her eyes.

"Here we go." She took a sip of water and met Jim's amused glance. She got the vibe that Jim was a very chill, calming guy.

"What?" He demanded. He cleared his throat. "Do you know if that receptionist is single?" And just as quick as it came, she saw the calm leave Jim's eyes. Ouch, touchy subject.

"She isn't. She's dating and living with me." He stared down Andy. Andy held up his hands in surrender.

"Just checking." Karen smirked at Andy's discomfort.

"Pam's really nice." Karen commented. Jim flashed a smile at Karen.

"She's the best." She heard the affection behind those three words and thought to herself that Pam was a lucky girl.


	13. Phyllis' Wedding

The wedding was lovely. Phyllis looked enchanting in her white gown. It made Karen long for her own.

She watched Jim and Pam as they swayed close together, Pam's head resting on Jim's shoulder, Jim kissing the top of her head. The song ended and Jim wrapped his arm around his girlfriend's waste as he led her to the table and went to go to get them a drink.

Pam smiled happily at Karen.

"So..." Pam leaned in.

"So...?" Karen smiled back.

"Got your eye on anyone here?" Pam whispered secretly.

"Well, I did contact Ryan..." Pam got a horrified look on her face. "What?"

"Howard?" She asked.

"Yes..." She drew out the word. Pam screwed up her face. "But he said no, because he was with Kelly, I didn't even know." Pam rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, they're the are they/aren't they couple of the office. They break up and get back together so many times but I do think they care about each other. I think they're both too dramatic for any sane person to handle." Pam giggled at Karen's grin.

"Too true." Karen cleared her throat. "But I did meet someone." Pam looked up, intrigued. "At a bar." Karen laughed deprecatingly.

"What is he like?"

"He's really funny. We've been on a few dates and I'm seeing him again this weekend." Karen smiled carefully. She didn't usually talk about her romantic life with co-workers but she had a good feeling about Pam. She had a feeling they could be really good friends.

As Pam was chatting with Karen, Jim was waiting at the bar for a drink, drafting a text to a number he swiped off Pam's phone when she was sleeping.

Soon, he received a reply, Tomorrow at 2. Chili's? I won't tell Pam.

He smiled and grabbed the drinks he was offered, walking back to the table.

He placed one in front of Pam, as she looked up at him in thanks, smiling broadly. He kissed her forehead before he sat down, wrapping an arm around her shoulder casually as Pam placed a hand on his leg.

Karen continued talking about the things she and this new guy had in common as Pam listened dutifully.

Karen looked up and saw Dan walk in.

"Oh my god." She breathed. She told Dan where she was going to be but she wasn't expecting him to come. Pam whipped around and looked at him.

"Go, Karen!" She looked back at Jim, who raised an eyebrow. "No one is more perfect than you for me though, Jim." She smiled beautifically.

"Nice save, Beesly." Karen got up and walked briskly over to the guy that was hopefully her boyfriend.

"Dan! What are you doing here? I thought you had that function?" Karen tilted her head as she asked.

"Well, I figured a dermatologist seminar isn't nearly as interesting as dancing at a wedding with my girlfriend and her co-workers." He smiled easily at Karen.

He really liked Karen. She liked to laugh and have a good time and it felt natural with her. He didn't have to put in a lot of effort because it was effortless.

Karen beamed at him.

"I'm so glad you're here!" She surged up and hugged him tightly around his neck, his arms wrapping around her sides.

"You look beautiful." Dan told her as he took in her appearance. She blushed lightly, before ducking her head a little. She looked back up at him and he leaned forward and kissed her deeply, her arms wrapping around his neck as she was lifted from the ground. He leaned back and broke the kiss as Karen looked up at him happily.

"C'mon, you have to meet Jim and Pam. They're like the only sane people here and I was totally third wheeling their love fest. You'll like them." She chattered as she grabbed his hand and guided him to her table that she shared with them.

As they walked, Dan matched his pace with Karen and laced their fingers together possessively.

"Dan, this is Jim and Pam. Guys, this is Dan." Pam smiled and waved and Jim leaned forward with his other hand to shake Dan's.

"So where are you going again?" Pam asked as she put her paintbrush to the canvas, adding more colors. She had her back to him as she furrowed her eyebrow in concentration.

"Just going to meet a guy for a drink at Chili's." It happened frequent enough and Pam didn't have interest in discussing a basketball line up but not rare enough to arouse suspicion.

Pam nodded and turned around to rise to her feet and give him a goodbye kiss.

"No more than two beers." She said sternly. He nodded seriously.

Soon, he was pulling into the Chili's parking lot and met an unfamiliar face.

Jim had never met Helene Beesly face to face before but she didn't seem that intimidating. The man next to her had a level face, eying Jim up from head to toe.

"Jim?" Helene queried. Jim nodded, moving forward to shake her and her husband's hand.

"Mrs. Beesly." He paused. "Mr. Beesly."

"It's Helene. And this is Bill." She smiled at Jim. So, this was the guy that Pam was always going on and on about even when she was dating Roy.

"How many?" The hostess asked.

"Three." Jim answered.

"No Pam?" Bill asked evenly.

"This is a secret meeting." Jim answered as he settled into his side of the booth. They soon put in their appetizers and the married couple waited until Jim started talking about why he wanted to talk to them.

"I'm sorry to make you come all this way." Jim started, feeling very nervous. "Pam and I have been dating for about a year and a half..." Helene put her hand to her mouth, already seeing where this was going. Her hand went to her husband's leg as she placed some pressure there.

Jim went into his pocket and pulled out a jeweler's ring box and put it on the table.

"I want to ask Pam to marry me."


	14. Local Ad

In the bar, Jim smiled serenely at Pam as they saw her little art at the end of the ad that did not make it onto tv.

Everyone clamored around her, congratulating her and telling her how amazing it was.

"I can't believe everyone thought it was so good." Pam remarked as she played with a strand of hair.

"I can." She looked at Jim from under her eyelashes.

"You have to say that. You're my boyfriend." She chuckled.

"Believe it or not, Beesly. I am not here to cater to your feelings." He joked, a smirk belaying his semi-harsh words.

"Yeah, okay." She laughed.

"Pam." He said seriously. She looked at him. "I think you should seriously consider art school."

"It's so expensive, Jim." She whispered.

"We can get other jobs." Jim reached over and grabbed her hand, while keeping an eye on the road.

"Jim..." She tried not to think about it. She wanted to be more than a receptionist but she didn't think she could.

"Pam. I would go anywhere with you. I can be a salesman anywhere." She looked at him.

"Jim, you're so much better than a salesman. Dunder Mifflin is stifling you. I know you're only staying for me." She looked down, guiltily.

"I'm staying because I think we can have a great life together. And we're only getting started, Pam." Tears rose to her eyes and spilled over her cheeks as she let herself give into the emotions of possibilities, of the love she felt for this man. She felt the car stop as he pulled into their driveway. He wiped the tears from her eyes and pecked her forehead.

"Sorry." She muttered, hating that she was a blubbering mess.

"C'mon, Pam. Let's talk about it." He implored her as she nodded and they went into the house.


	15. Engagement

Jim bought the ring a week after his first date with Pam. He knew he wouldn't be with anyone else. She was perfect for him.

Why did he wait so long one may ask?

Well, he was scared.

Obviously, he knew she was the one he wanted to marry but what if it was too soon after her last engagement to jump into another one.

Then they had a stupid fight and Jim got even more scared. So, he hid the ring in a sports magazine drawer that he knew she would never go into.

Then, the fight was over and they couldn't stop being all over each other. Jim got a big commission check and he had bought the ring over one year ago at that point. He sold the ring to some person and got a pretty penny for it.

He went into a fancy jewelry store and spent his whole commission check on the biggest rock he could afford. The price was a ridiculous amount for a ring but he wanted the best for Pam. He knew that this was the ring he would propose to her with.

This was it.

And this was the moment.

They were at work at an even that neither of them wanted to go to. He had met with Helene about a week ago and although he didn't say it, he was going to propose to Pam soon.

He didn't want to plan it though.

He wanted it to be completely surprising and spur of the moment.

Pam had been sitting there, arms crossed as she took in everyone's actions during the party. It wasn't anything in particular, like a birthday or anything. Just a random party that Michael organized for no particular reason.

Jim was going to make a reason. Jim cleared his throat and everyone looked to him in confusion.

"I know it's a random time, but what are we thankful for?" Jim asked the room.

"Cats." Angela answered immediately.

"My Dunder Mifflin family!" Crowed Michael.

"My beet crop has been fruitful this year." Dwight answered promptly.

"Bob and our marriage."

"Reasons..." Creed answered and although it didn't give him insight into the reason, Jim still felt creeped out.

Jim took a deep breath. He moved to one knee in front of Pam, her hand moving to her mouth, tears filling her eyes as Kelly and Karen gasped. He could vaguely hear them as his eyes filled with the vision of Pam.

He took her hand as he continued talking.

"I am thankful every day that I fell in love with Pam and that she is in my life. She is everything I wanted and everything I didn't know I needed. I love her with my whole heart. Pam, will you marry me?" Jim earnestly looked at Pam as she wetly laughed and nodded her head happily.

"Of course, I will." Pam wiped away a few tears as Jim opened the ring, Karen and Pam gasping at the size of the rock.

"Holy shit." Pam exclaimed. "Is that real?" Her eyes snapped up to look at Jim.

"Of course, it is." Her eyes widened and she went to take it out of the box.

"Are you sure?" Pam whispered as she put it on her finger, the weight being heavier than she remembered.

"More than anything. You deserve everything, Pam." She smiled waterly and looked at the ring.

"It's perfect, Jim." She said softly before wrapping him in a hug and kissing him hard.

She was wrong. She was the perfect one.


	16. Wedding

Jim looked at Pam in the most beautiful wedding dress he could imagine.

Pam looked at Jim with part of her veil ripped and Jim's tie cut in half so they would be even in all things. Just like they would be for the rest of their lives.

"I do." They utter, without taking their eyes off each other. Hands clasped around each other, as promise that they will not part from each other.

Soon after that, they had a reception, filled with laughter and dancing.

A happy celebration to signal the beginning of the best adventure of their lives.

The beginning of their lives together.

Jim and Pam may have had some arguments but their love for each other got through the rocky terrain. Some of the biggest fights came about when planning the wedding but they eventually agreed on their dream wedding. Aqua accents, water lilies for her bouquet and flower arrangements, and the place of Niagara. The picturesque natural wonder providing the perfect backdrop and atmosphere for the even that would begin their lives together.

Jim smiled happily as he watched Bill dance the Father/Daughter dance with Pam. Helene walks over to Jim and sits next to him.

"I'm so glad this happened." She remarked. "Especially with you." She confided.

Jim looked at Pam and tried to imagine Roy being in his position and became angry at the jealousy that overcame him for a second. Then Pam turned and smiled at Jim, as she made her way over to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around his midsection, affectionately.

He would never forget this day for the rest of his life.


	17. Epilogue

Three years later...

Shortly after their wedding, Pam revealed to Dunder Mifflin and to her friends and family that she got an amazing opportunity to move to Austin, Texas. Jim and a couple of his college friends started this amazing company called Athlead, a sports company based on an idea the three of them thought up in college.

It was so soon after their marriage and Pam felt it was the right time and she picked up her roots and moved with him. Housing in Austin was so much cheaper than Pennsylvania so they were able to get a spacious house on Jim's new salary as President of New Acquisitions. Jim and Pam were silent partners for the first two years where it struggled but when Jim took a more active role two years ago, people started pouring in their support. The company took off from there.

Soon, they announced they would be moving their base to Austin. They wanted Jim to go with them. Jim turned them down, of course, citing Pam's happiness. One of the other guys called Pam and told her the situation. She was touched by his concern for her but muscled him into saying yes. They called up their beloved renters and explained that although they wish they could pick up the house and move it to Austin, they couldn't. They loved their little house with the hot tub and the place that held so many amazing memories for them. But as Pam told Jim, they would make all sorts of new memories. Lizzie was upset of course but they promised to keep in touch.

She had a hard time saying good bye to so many people that have been in her life for so long. Her friends at Dunder Mifflin had been with her for so long and although she may find some of them annoying at times, she had so many good times with them, that she couldn't not miss them. She would miss Phyllis and even Dwight with his ridiculousness because he did care in his own way. Michael would be dearly missed in his weird, always rooting for Jim and Pam type of way. He was always their biggest supporter.

Certain people at Corporate seemed to have an issue with Jim and Pam's relationship for what seems no reason at all. Jim thought it had something to do with Toby but Michael stood up to the Human Resource dragons and stood his ground and would not force one of the two of his best employees to transfer or resign. He won the battle and the workers at Scranton's respect.

It was the most difficult to say goodbye to her family. They have been with her for so long and her biggest fans but her mother wouldn't hear of her doubts. This is her chance, she said. To start a new life and begin her marriage and possibly motherhood.

Soon, after Pam's wedding, it was announced that Helene and Bill were divorcing. Penny's children were growing and didn't want their grandmother cramping their afternoons anymore when there were video games to play. So, Helene planned to move with Pam and get a small apartment and start her life over again too.

Helene wasn't the only one to follow Pam and Jim to Texas.

Karen and Dan got married soon after Jim and Pam and a new dermatologist clinic opened up in Austin, Texas and Dan couldn't pass up the opportunity to spread his wings and Karen didn't have any qualms about moving across the country. She loved Dan and was loving being married to him. They both had wonderful careers and despite being a doctor, he didn't have to put in ton of hours, leaving plenty of time for their relationship. Karen and Pam became really close, bonding over the move. Karen soon got pregnant with their first child, excitedly telling Pam about it over the phone. She loved the name Ellie.

Pam loved Austin. Pam finished an online arts program and passed with flying colors. She, while taking classes online, became employed at a up and coming art gallery. When the gallery owner found out that she was an artist in addition to helping her run the gallery, she insisted Pam show her art to her.

Susan fell in love with it. She demanded that Pam have art shows and the eclectic people from that area fell in love with the watercolors that Pam had always favored. Susan hired Pam as her assistant and held art shows a few times a year for her, bringing in lots of sales for the gallery and for Pam. She had no idea that her life could turn from being unhappily engaged to one person to married to the best guy she could possibly imagine and living the life she had always dreamed of having.

They had a wonderful house, a wonderful life...

She held a hand to her now flat stomach and smiled. She couldn't wait for Jim to come home to tell him the wonderful news.

She had always liked the name Cecelia.


End file.
